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“Come, let us go across to the other side,” said Jesus. And they did. With no apparent purpose. Even though it was evening, and a storm was afoot, Mark didn’t bother to report any objections from the disciples. As far as we know, they were eager to embark on a dangerous boat trip to the … Read the rest
Continue reading "The Crossing and the Storm" »Listen to Audio
Before I begin, I need to preface my remarks by saying that I don’t like raisins. In fact, I think of oatmeal raisin cookies as a kind of mean-spirited bait and switch. They look like chocolate chip cookies but then turn out to be something that more like a healthy breakfast than a decadent dessert. … Read the rest
Continue reading "Staying with the Source" »
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“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Ah… our dear friend Thomas, the icon of outspoken doubt. Since Easter fell on April Fool’s Day this year, I find myself particularly grateful … Read the rest
Continue reading "Body of Hurt and Hope" »Listen to Audio
Someone in this house has just recovered from a fever, has been lifted up, and is serving God. I don’t necessarily know who it is. Although… you may. The person recovered from the fever may even be you.
I know that it has been me. Lord knows I’ve had some debilitating fevers in my life: … Read the rest
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So it’s a week to be an Oregonian, no? I have to love it when our gas-pumping habits make the national news. On Thursday I woke up to the Washington Post headline that read “I don’t even know HOW: Some Oregonians panic about the new self-service gas law.”
Great. The rest of the country already … Read the rest
Continue reading "God's Renewable Energy" »Listen to Audio
Today being Christ the King Sunday, and myself never having lived under the authority of an earthly king, I thought I’d better do some research into how my peers think about kings. So I did what contemporary people do, and turned to the Oracle of Mountain View—that being Google—for insight.
I figured that … Read the rest
Continue reading "Jesus & Jonathan Haidt" »
Friends, how did you get in here? That’s a serious question. Did you walk, drive, take the train? Did you come through the south or north doors, or through the slype, that little vestibule over there? When you arrived, did someone greet you with kindness, hand you a bulletin, tell you where to take your children or show … Read the rest
“There’s no way out,” lamented a headline from Houston this week. Of all the horrifying and heartbreaking reportage from the flood zone, this one felt the most personal because just a week ago Saturday I was sitting in an eerily quiet airport terminal in Austin Texas, similarly wondering if there were a way out. Which of course there … Read the rest
Continue reading "It's All One Way" »Have any of you parents out there had the experience of your young children learning a classroom lesson on the environment and then becoming the household garbage police? I admit it, my children were the ones who insisted—leaving no room for negotiation—that I separate waste from recyclables.
I may not have been an early adopter, but of course … Read the rest
Continue reading "Furnace of Angels" »In the 2012 movie “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” manager Sonny Kapoor has marketed the Jaipur hotel he inherited from his father as a retirement home for budget conscious English retirees. The place is terribly dilapidated—basically it’s a wreck—so central to the narrative is how a small colony of English expats adjust to the reality of an Indian … Read the rest
Continue reading "If it's not all right, it's not the end" »
