If our idea of salvation isn’t God’s idea, then (spoiler alert!) by extension the Good News that we proclaim and announce isn’t going to be truly Good. Earlier this year, the Congregation for the Doctrine [aka Teaching] of the Faith, published…
What Lasts Forever?
“Nothing lasts forever”, the saying goes. Indeed, most of the things we make or build are impermanent: even the great pyramids are eroded by the desert winds. Our relationships seem impermanent too: every person has experienced loss in their lives:…
An Epidemic of Loneliness – We are the Cure
“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love.” – Saint…
The Praying Mantis messenger
What does a praying mantis have to do with a new job? I was barely out of college. My journalism degree helped me land a part-time office job with the publisher of a Texas restaurant guide. The hours were flexible,…
Jesus, How Long Are You Going to Keep Us In Suspense?!?
Imagine you’re sitting on an outer porch of the Jerusalem Temple during the time of Jesus. You’re at one end of a massive stone structure, as large as six football fields. And, you’re on a height, nearly ten stories up in…
For God so love the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the…
On Pride and Christian Privilege
In the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape educates a lesser demon on using a new Christian’s pride: “He must be made to feel (he’d better not put it in to words) ‘how different we Christians are’; and by ‘we Christians’…
Faith in a World of Science and Technology
In a world of science and technology, some wonder if faith is still needed. Is it? Let’s consider. Science is our understanding of how the world operates: the “laws” of reality. For instance, gravity pulls things down because that is…
Don’t Stop Now!
Whew! I made it through Lent. The Fridays without hamburgers and tacos. (In my world, fish tacos don’t count.) The two days of fasting (such a piddly number!) where I had to skip all those in-between meal snacks. Did you…
Tunnel Vision
When construction began on the mile-long bridge across the lake behind our home I lamented that progress was stealing the scene I treasure. I like to sit in the kitchen window seat and read when I have a few minutes,…