Thoughts to Ponder

Coffee Cup Theology

2010-12-07T20:31:00.001-06:00

It has been a very long time since I've made a blog entry on "Thoughts To Ponder"! I intend on leaving this site set up for those interested in my older articles. However, I have decided to move my blogging to the following site: Coffee Cup Theology. Please be certain to check the Coffee Cup Theology blog out for newer materials! Blessings!

Suffering Revisited

2010-06-03T07:00:00.004-05:00

Recently I have run across the title and brief summary of a book about suffering. It is called God's Problem by Bart D. Ehrman. The brief summary reads "bestselling author...chronicles Christianity's faith-shattering failure to account for suffering." In all fairness, I cannot critique the book because I have not read it. Nor would I lightly enter into a debate with someone as highly

Role Models

2009-12-17T15:19:00.002-06:00

“What a great thing that could've been for the world to have. Too many times, a gifted person comes along, and we automatically make them a role model. Inevitably, they end up doing something to let us down. The truth is, though, that those were never the role models we needed. The role models we need are the people who let us down first, and then show the strength and character to fight back

Back from Ukraine

2009-08-05T22:17:00.013-05:00

It has been almost two weeks since I have returned from my three week stay in Ukraine. I have been hesitant to describe my experience because it is impossible to describe adequately. No number of pictures or video clips or stories can do justice to the experience. But those of you who know me know very well I am not gifted in the discipline of silence! My wife wondered why out of all my pictures

It's Better To Wait For The Conductor's Cue

2009-06-01T08:30:00.014-05:00

-or-Maybe The Conductor and Composer Know The Music Better Than You DoThroughout the years sexuality has been fearfully suppressed and recklessly expressed by extreme groups. Some very prudish religionists and philosophers have insisted the body is evil and therefore it should be deprived and otherwise punished for being such a bad kid. Pagan and Christian groups have fallen into the trap of

Poets who read their own poems have other bad habits, part 2

2009-05-11T08:41:00.014-05:00

Made For Flight You feel the earth beneath your feet. It gives you comfort, not like the silver cigars in the air. Oh, you know the odds. But just the same, you like the feel of solid ground. And that is who you are. sun baked face, dirt under nail, lungs that fill with the sweet musty smell of pine and manure Those cracked, calloused hands have seen enough abuse for ninety years, but not so

Suffering

2009-04-30T19:17:00.008-05:00

IT IS A GOOD THING to learn early that God and suffering are not opposites but rather one and the same thing and necessarily so; for me, the idea that God himself suffers is far and away the most convincing piece of Christian doctrine.—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from PrisonA THEOLOGY that embraces the idea that God cannot suffer has to answer the question: Can God love? Abraham

Poets reading their own poetry have other bad habits

2009-04-29T22:15:00.007-05:00

SanctusI am called, today.The sun lights your kindness in the sky.I praise you, my Fatherand lift your name on high.Your mercy and your lovelights the hope within my eye—O holy OneO blessed SonYou are the One who givesthe sunshine and the darkness in my life.But even in the night-timeI know I cannot hidefrom your mercy and your graceand the care that you provide.The life you give:a gift to live.I

Wendell Berry on Dualism

2009-04-23T20:48:00.005-05:00

I ran across the following quote from Wendell Berry. Berry gives a very clear description of the Biblical understanding of the nature of man. American Christianity has been so unduly influenced by Greek dualism that we have a hard time understanding the nature of man, the concept of resurrection, and the importance of the creation in God's economy and God's eternal plans. The following comes from

Those Who Fear To Share

2009-02-13T17:27:00.002-06:00

Lynn Anderson passed this you tube on to me. Check it out:A Gift of A Bible The message is powerful. But I'll let it speak for itself.

The Kingdom of Self

2009-02-11T19:39:00.004-06:00

A few years back I remember listening to an interview with a well known theologian. I must have been impressed because I can't remember who it was! For some reason N. T. Wright, Bishop of Durham, comes to mind. The discussion centered on the curious fact that so many theologians were actually atheists. He replied that he knew many of them as young men while they were pursuing graduate degrees

Jesus Loves The Little Children

2008-09-20T21:57:00.003-05:00

Jesus loves the little childrenall the children of the world!It makes no difference: dark or light,they are precious in his sight...“WASHINGTON (AP) - Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks—many calling them ‘lazy,’ ‘violent’ or

Isaiah on Freedom

2008-06-15T08:56:00.005-05:00

A few months ago I wandered in a lovely old used book store in Stephenville, Texas. My friend Doug led me to the store and we drank tea, conversed with the proprietress, and stole words by reading. Feeling the guilt of my theft, I had to purchase a few books to make amends. So I bought Terri a beautiful hard bound book on herbs and I picked up a small chapbook by the late Menke Katz, a Jewish

Sabbatical Pictures

2008-04-17T20:19:00.012-05:00

Welcome to the Selah Inn in Mt. Vernon. The Selah Inn is a bed and breakfast that contracts 30 weeks with the Pastors' Retreat Network. Here ministers and pastors from a variety of traditions gather to spend time resting, visiting, praying, and spending time in solitude studying the word for themselves. Enjoy the pictures from both the Selah Inn and from Pine Cove Retreat Center in Tyler and my

Contemplation

2008-03-18T13:39:00.003-05:00

"To be a contemplative therefore is not limited to any specific lifestyle, such as monastic or religious; rather, it has everything to do with hearing God's call to become love, in whatever state of life we find ourselves. For contemplation will make us not less concerned for the world we live in, but more."Nevertheless, to grow in...prayer and to deepen our relationship with God, it is essential

Sabbatical

2008-03-11T15:11:00.003-05:00

Beginning March 30 I will be on Sabbatical.My elders were kind enough to provide me with a six week break from my duties to allow me to "recharge my batteries". During this time I'll be participating in the Pastors' Retreat Network for a week, I'll also be taking a week of solitude in East Texas, as well as visiting other churches, and spending time with mentors and colleagues in the

The Gift (a stream-of-consciousness rambling)

2008-02-11T16:11:00.004-06:00

Jeanne Johnson is an incredible lady.Presently Dean of Music and Dance, she's known as "Mama J" by so many music students who have gone through Kilgore College. Although, I think it's to my credit, I never addressed her in that way because she is too young!I met her sometime in 1976--can't remember the exact time. She was just hired as a voice teacher for Kilgore College where I attended. Her

Ah, the young...

2008-01-27T15:30:00.000-06:00

"The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible and achieve it, generation after generation." - Pearl S. Buck- The older I become the easier it is to look down my long nose of experience at the foolishness of young people. My nineteen-year-old daughter sometimes accuses me of being condescending. I find myself guilty of subtle and not-too-subtle put downs.It

Bloody Sacrifice

2008-01-08T19:21:00.000-06:00

" 'If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he is to bring a female without defect. He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the

Christmas Reflections

2007-12-21T15:41:00.002-06:00

My lovely wife, Terri was finally able to "walk the stage" last Saturday (December 15)! She graduated cum laude with a BBA in Management. She crammed that four year degree into thirty!We're all very proud of her.Even with all of this joy and Christmas cheer I have to come back to Earth. I am reminded Matthew's version of the "Christmas story" is not cute nor cudly. It includes the slaughter of

Thanksgiving Reflections

2007-11-27T21:33:00.000-06:00

On December 2, 2006 I made this Thoughts To Ponder entry:This past week has been a roller coaster ride of emotions for me. Sunday night I received a frantic telephone call from my niece informing me my father had been caught by his own truck rolling backwards in a parking lot...His head hit the pavement and knocked him unconscious while the truck ran over his ankle, breaking it...For most of this

Of Dumbledore and Dark Materials

2007-11-06T07:59:00.000-06:00

J. K. Rowling has done a number on those fans of hers who are among evangelicals.She outed Dumbledore. Gracious me. Rowling, would you please quit talking? After all, this is a fictional character who really doesn't exist. His imaginary sexual orientation is not relevant to the plot in any real way. It might have stimulated her creativity in writing, but really: who cares?Now Rowling has

Theology

2007-10-29T08:40:00.000-05:00

Singer/Songwriter Sinead O'Connor has produced a haunting two CD set titled Theology. Ms. O'Connor emerged from her self-imposed "retirement" and theological studies to record nine original compositions while covering We People Who Are Darker Than Blue and Tim Rice's I Don't Know How To Love Him.Other than those two songs, all of the songs are interpretations of Biblical texts from Psalms, Song

Small Communities

2007-10-15T13:31:00.000-05:00

For the first 300 years, the church didn’t have small groups – it was small groups. The above quote is the teaser line of a brochure for an upcoming conference on Ancient-Future Community. (Wished I had the time and money to go to that conference!)It doesn't take much digging to discover the truth of the teaser. While the church in Jerusalem began as a mega-church (3,000 on day one!)--Acts 2:42-

In The Name of Jesus: Quotes from Henri Nouwen

2007-10-09T07:56:00.000-05:00

"Few ministers...think theologically. Most of them have been educated in a climate in which the behavioral sciences, such as psychology and sociology, so dominated the educational milieu that little true theology was being learned. Most Christian leaders today raise psychological or sociological questions even though they frame them in scriptural terms. Real theological thinking, which is

The Lord's Supper [Quote]

2007-09-24T09:58:00.000-05:00

"We cannot begin to understand the meaning of the Lord's Supper without reckoning with the fact that, before everything else, it is a Jewish meal. John Macquarrie recalls a fond memory from his years of teaching at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He was invited on the eve of Shabbat [Sabbath] to supper at the home of rabbi Abrahm Heschel, the great Jewish theologian. At the beginning of

Can you hear me now?

2007-08-21T05:47:00.000-05:00

The other day I was on the phone with a young adult. The conversation was punctuated by long periods of silence followed by "um...well..." and then a response to something I had said or had asked. When I queried my conversation partner, I discovered she was IM (instant messaging) a couple of friends while talking to me. (I had already suspected this).There was a time when similar behavior would

Stopping Church Theft

2007-08-08T13:33:00.000-05:00

by Dustin BagbyThe Evergreen Community(Darryl's note: When I came across this article it really hit hard! Mr. Bagby gives a very timely bit of advice to all of us!)Church theft is an epidemic that has been plaguing the Church for decades. You may think I’m making reference to the occasional theft of the church offering. But the theft I’m more familiar with is a different kind of robbery that

A Two-Edged Sword

2007-08-04T19:59:00.000-05:00

"Cellphones are wonderful, but they empower the obnoxious and amplify the ignorant. Once they kept their thoughts to themselves. They had no choice. Now they have cellphones, into which they bark, "I'm on line at Duane Reade. Yeah. Ex-Lax." Oh, thank you for sharing. How much less my life would be if I didn't know. BlackBerrys empower the obsessed. We wouldn't have them if the economy weren't

Spiritual Experiences

2007-08-02T08:31:00.000-05:00

The Holy Spirit and the task of the church: the two walk together, hand in hand. Despite what you might think from some excitement in the previous generation about new spiritual experiences, God doesn't give people the Holy Spirit in order to let them enjoy the spiritual equivalent of a day at Disneyland. Of course, when you're downcast and gloomy, the fresh wind of God's Spirit can and often

Now Rod Stewart Joins the Act!

2007-07-12T13:12:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I made a couple of posts regarding how our culture has really taken a downward slide into contempt by the way we speak to others. My point was "cursing", while culturally relative, was a demonstration of contempt for another human being. It also demonstrates poor use of one's own language and a cheap way to get someone's attention.Now, World Entertainment News reports that

Inconsistency in Paul?

2007-06-10T13:38:00.000-05:00

“It is of course pleasantly easy to produce apparent self-contradiction in almost any writer. Ronald Knox had no difficulty in proving the existence of different hands in the Sherlock Holmes corpus, or in demonstrating that the second half of Pilgrim’s Progress was written by a middle-aged Anglo-Catholic woman (Pseudo-Bunyan, of course). If we imagine the sort of reply Bunyan himself would have

Quotes from Alan Hirsch

2007-05-24T12:18:00.000-05:00

One of the purposes of Thoughts to Ponder is actually to get my readers to think. Whether you agree with my writing or the occasional excerpt is not the point. What I hope you do is reflect and discuss. Share the quote below with your friends and discuss, debate, and converse.-DBW-"It is remarkable to me that the theologically most fertile parts of the Bible are all, yes all, set in the context

Finding Peace

2007-05-16T15:05:00.000-05:00

"Pride always finds a way to stratify people, to separate people, to categorize people in a way that works to their disadvantage. Pride always creates an elite, an inner ring to exclude others. The game wouldn’t be any fun without keeping score and identifying losers…" -Ray Ortlund Jr. The above quote struck me as perhaps the quintessential problem of church families. People want to experience a

Working Moms and Moms Working

2007-05-08T07:39:00.000-05:00

The following quote comes from The New York Post "NYP@Work" on May 6, 2007:"... being home alone with an infant after working my entire life was a big shock. I worried I'd be isolated - and I was. The kinds of women I meshed with were intellectual and driven. With the stay-at-home moms I met, every conversation was about babies, so it felt like there was no future for me as a person, only as a

It's About Time

2007-05-01T19:10:00.000-05:00

"The godfather of modern hip-hop has decided enough is enough. Russell Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam records and the inspiration behind bands as diverse as Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, is as sick of the lazy vulgarity of rap music as many of the rest of us." -Andrew Gumbel, "Stop using all this bad language, says hip-hop pioneer," The Independent (UK), April 25, 2007The article

The Walking Dead

2007-04-23T20:02:00.000-05:00

In Khost, Afghanistan they have a name for them: "The Walking Dead." They are also called "Osama bin Laden's children." These names are given to the nearly two dozen suicide bombers who entered Khost from Pakistan's North Waziristan territory. Most are orphans from war. They are schooled in anti-Western madrassas and they usually smile for a video testament in Pakistan before embarking on their

Dad is doing just fine

2007-04-21T22:40:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, I thought it would be a good idea to take a moment and update you on how my dad is doing. He drove down to our house for the weekend (he lives two hours away). The picture posted here was taken yesterday (Friday) in our back yard. He will be driving another hour away in the morning to a 50th anniversary of a church we attended when I was a kid. You can surmise from all of this dad

Reflections on Imus

2007-04-16T16:31:00.000-05:00

"Shock for the sake of shock forces the popular culture to accept the darkerside of angry music, which filters into the vernacular of everyday speech and isabsorbed by those who should know better. Rappers black and white revel in theobscene, the sadistic, the racist and the nihilistic, and they're defended asmere reflectors of 'authentic experience.' Pop culture has often appealed to ourbaser

Adoption

2007-04-02T07:57:00.000-05:00

The picture below warms my heart. Mark and Cynthia, two dear friends of mine from Memphis, have just returned from China with their second adopted child, Nya Joy. Their first adopted child, Rivers Grace, is pictured here beside her new "little sister" Nya.Mark and Cynthia have two sons. One is in college and the other is in high school. When they heard of the need for adoptive parents of girl

Worldview and Story

2007-03-28T13:50:00.000-05:00

The following comes from Andrew Fountain's blog: In Christ. Some have often wondered why I use so much narrative and story in my preaching. Andrew's treatment of a message by David Devenish captures the idea pretty well for me. (For reference you can check his blog by clicking on the title above). -Darryl-"I just listened to a message by David Devenish on 'Discipling those of different cultures'

Paul's Idea of Community

2007-03-21T14:32:00.000-05:00

The following excerpt is from a book I haven't read in a long time. I've decided to pick it back up and review it. Part of my reading discipline is to peruse the book--scanning every few pages and then go back and read it more in depth. The following section caught my eye. I thought those who read this blog might find it interesting too. -DBW-"We are in a position now to identify more precisely

Creating Space for God

2007-03-01T13:46:00.001-06:00

Discipline is the other side of discipleship. Discipleship without discipline is like waiting to run in the marathon without ever practicing. Discipline without discipleship is like always practicing for the marathon but never participating. It is important, however, to realize that discipline in the spiritual life is not the same as discipline in sports. Discipline in sports is the concentrated

Dad at home for three weeks

2007-01-29T09:55:00.000-06:00

To all of my friends who have been keeping up with my dad's condition: he has been at home since January 11! I took him to his house and stayed with him for two weeks. Now my oldest brother Michael is with him for a couple of weeks. My middle brother, Clay, who lives a couple of miles away from dad is monitoring the situation to see how we will need to proceed after Mike goes home.Dad has his

Gospel of Sin Managment (Dallas Willard Quote)

2007-01-12T15:33:00.000-06:00

The gospel of sin management produces vampire Christians who want Jesus for his blood and little else…At the heart of right-wing theology is the individual forgiveness of sins. On the left it is the removal of social or structural evils. The current gospel then becomes a gospel of sin management. Transformation of heart and character is no part of the redemptive message. Moment to moment human

Success vs. Fruit

2007-01-04T09:07:00.000-06:00

There is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is

Christmas Eve with Dad

2006-12-26T11:29:00.000-06:00

Dad is still in Rehab at ETMC. We spent Christmas Eve with him. We have a lot of hope--we are seeing him showing more and more clarity of mind and sense of humor. Of course, as a pharmacist, he is anything BUT a good patient. He knows more than the nurses about medication and so he is glad to point out while he will take the pill they are giving him, he does not want to because it's not that

Dad is in rehab now

2006-12-16T15:33:00.000-06:00

Dad is doing much better. He is in ETMC Rehab room 307. I will go to see him on Monday, Terri is planning on going tomorrow. Clay (my middle brother) tells me dad is doing much better and is very clear. I talked with dad on the telephone and I was little dismayed that he was asking "Who is Darryl?" Clay later told me dad was not in the least confused about that. He was evidently ribbing me for

Rehab tomorrow

2006-12-14T12:36:00.000-06:00

Dad is having a "peg" placed in his side today. This is so he can be fed without a feeding tube. Please pray everything goes well.Dr. Norwood says he will be placed in Rehab tomorrow to begin working on becoming mobile. Last night my brother was noticing Dad seems to be becoming more clear mentally. Today Brittany and Terri visited dad and Terri seems to detect some more clarity as well. Once

Feeding Tube Again

2006-12-12T22:26:00.000-06:00

I'm having a hard time right now. Dad was put on a feeding tube again. For some reason he is aspirating when trying to drink liquids. (However, he was doing fine with solids). They may have to put a "peg" in and feed him directly from his side.He is getting clearer, but he is still confused. I am told a lot has to do with 16 days in an ICU. However, I'm also hearing "his age is against him." The

Back and Forth

2006-12-09T19:17:00.000-06:00

Dad is back in ICU. However, it's not as bad as it seems. His chronic bronchitis (an annual affair) kept him coughing so much he wasn't getting enough oxygen. In a private room on a floor there is one nurse for 14 patients. They decided it would be better back in ICU where there is one nurse to two patients. This way they can be more aggressive in their work. They've decided to keep him in ICU

Dad's In A Room

2006-12-08T15:05:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone! Dad has been unplugged from all of the junk in ICU and they've moved him to a private room! Please continue to pray for his health--especially for his restoration both in his mind and in his spirit. We are hoping that a private room where he can begin to distinguish day from night (as opposed to ICU where hours run together) and the removal of all of the equipment will help him

Dad is doing better

2006-12-07T15:16:00.000-06:00

Dad is doing much better today. The Doctor I spoke with this morning said the reaction he had yesterday was a drug reaction, not a stroke. They are now talking about rehab and what to do after rehab.There is so much to decide. Three brothers living in three different places. Ideal situation we all agree is dad to be at home if necessary with nursing care. This may not be the real situation though

Update on my dad

2006-12-06T22:56:00.000-06:00

Please continue to pray for my father. It seems he took an inexplicable turn for the worse. The Doctors thought he had a stroke so they ordered a CT scan. While the scan turned up some blood pooling on his brain, it was not enough to cause the lethargic reaction. It did not appear to be a stroke. However, the Doctor is asking a neurologist to look at it.The Doctor also painted a very bad case

Roller Coaster Ride

2006-12-02T22:40:00.000-06:00

This past week has been a roller coaster ride of emotions for me. Sunday night I received a frantic telephone call from my neice informing me my father had been caught by his own truck rolling backwards in a parking lot. He was trying to stop it when the door caught him in the face and knocked him backwards. His head hit the pavement and knocked him unconscious while the truck ran over his ankle,

Henri Nouwen Quote

2006-11-24T16:44:00.000-06:00

"Waiting patiently in expectation does not necessarily get easier as we become older. On the contrary, as we grow in age we are tempted to settle down in a routine way of living and say: 'Well, I have seen it all. ... There is nothing new under the sun. ... I am just going to take it easy and take the days as they come.'"But in this way our lives lose their creative tension. We no longer expect

Minding Our Own Business

2006-11-13T07:58:00.000-06:00

"One of the first things to learn if you want to be a contemplative is to mind your own business. Nothing is more suspicious, in a man who seems holy, than an impatient desire to reform other men." –Thomas MertonA friend of mine passed this quote on to me. He had previously sent a link to a "Christian" website attacking what is being labeled "the emergent church." This fellow was pointing to the

All Saints Day and Holloween?

2006-11-01T09:19:00.000-06:00

Although I haven't personally met him face to face, I consider Dick Soule a friend of mine. We've had several email exchanges over the past couple of years and I've grown to respect and admire him.Dick publishes a newsletter called Ekklesia...Then & Now which explores a diverse range of reflections on the church. From time to time we've disagreed, but he has always presented well-thought-through

Great Trends In Youth Ministry

2006-10-25T14:04:00.000-05:00

I mentioned last post I had been involved in youth ministry for 18 years before I started serving as a preaching minister. I’ve still tried to keep up with youth ministry in some level for the last ten years. For a couple of years now my wife and I have been serving as a “Shepherding Couple” for Youth Workers and their spouses at a Youth oriented evangelism camp. I serve as a volunteer under our

Silence is Golden?

2006-10-11T11:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, I have suspected for a long time now the Baby Boomer-Evangelical-Modern (apologies to Brian MacLaren) Culture Club would demand my membership card and kick me out. Now I am afraid I'll have to just get it over with and surrender it willingly with as little fuss as possible. (But there's no fun in that is there?)What was it that sent me over? Well, it's been building up for a while. As an 18

A New Dawn Breaking

2006-10-04T08:53:00.000-05:00

"When you see the dawn breaking, you think back to the darkness in a new way. 'Sin' is not simply the breaking of a law. It is the missing of an opportunity. Having heard the echoes of a voice, we are called to come and meet the Speaker. We are invited to be transformed by the voice itself, the word of the gospel--the word which declares that evil has been judged, that the world has been put to

Conversations with N. T. Wright

2006-09-14T07:34:00.000-05:00

"You know that old saying, give someone a fish and you feed them for a day; teach someone to fish and you feed them for life. Paul's whole motto seems to be that if you merely give someone a dogma, you may keep them on the straight and narrow for a day, but if you teach someone to think Christianly, they'll be able to be sustained, even when you're not around writing letters to them. And so a lot

Simply Christian

2006-08-30T14:27:00.000-05:00

The following quote comes from N. T. Wright's book Simply Christian (Harper San Francisco). If you haven't read Wright, let me encourage you to pick up one of his books or check out his home page (www.ntwrightpage.com). "One of the regular tactics the skeptic employs at this point is relativism. I vividly remember a school friend saying to me in exasperation, at the end of a conversation about

Loss

2006-08-11T01:00:00.000-05:00

My oldest daughter came home tonight in tears. Tomorrow we are all leaving for Nashville to help her move into her dorm at Lipscomb. Tonight she said "goodbye" to her youth minister."This was so hard," she blurted out. "And I haven't even said goodbye to you, mom and sis!"While I hugged her, I noticed the hard knot stuck in my own throat and the slightly acid sting of salt water brimming over my

Life Together

2006-08-07T14:04:00.000-05:00

The following is a selection from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. He wrote this book in 1938 under the shadow of the Third Riech. Bonhoeffer's little book has been hailed as the classic examination of faith in community by well know theologians and writers such as Richard Foster (Celebration of Discipline), Henri J. M. Nouwen, Robert McAfee Brown, and Walter Brueggeman. I hope this excerpt

Meeting Needs?

2006-07-20T14:41:00.000-05:00

"Jesus doesn't meet our needs; he rearranges them. He cares very little about most things that I assume are my needs, and he gives me needs that I would've never had if I hadn't met Jesus."I used to ask seminarians, 'Why are you are you in seminary?' They'd say, 'I like meeting people's needs.' And I'd say, 'Whoa. Really? If you try that with the people I know, they'll eat you alive.'"Now, if

A Spiritual Life

2006-06-29T19:02:00.000-05:00

"A spiritual life does not take us out of the world but excites our endeavors to mend the world." -William PennI recently read somewhere how Teresa of Avila asked God to be able to pray four hours a day. She felt God's response was something like this: "Teresa, I don't make the little birds eat. When they're hungry they eat. And when you're hungry for me you will spend more time and enjoy it

Prayer

2006-06-13T14:10:00.000-05:00

"But if God is so good as you represent him, and if he knows all that we need, and better far than we do ourselves, why should it be necessary to ask him for anything?"I answer, What if he knows prayer to be the thing we need first and most? What if the main object in God's idea of prayer be the supplying of our great, our endless need--the need of himself? Hunger may drive the runaway child home

C. S. Lewis Quote: Prayer & Forgiveness

2006-06-05T14:17:00.000-05:00

"I really must digress to tell you a bit of good news. Last week, while at prayer, I suddenly discovered--or felt as if I did--that I had really forgiven someone I have been trying to forgive for over thirty years. Trying, and praying that I might. When the thing actually happened--sudden as the longed-for cessation of one's neighbour's radio--my feeling was "But it's so easy. Why didn't you do

Movie Review?

2006-05-23T18:31:00.000-05:00

I hope this isn't overkill. My daughter and I went to see The Da Vinci Code today. On the technical aspect: Ron Howard is an incredible director. The visual imagery is stunning. Much of his technique was reminiscent of A Beautiful Mind. I found the flashbacks into Sophia's and Langdon's past effective. Much less effective were the flash-backs to the so-called historical events. They tended to be

Quotes

2006-05-18T09:45:00.000-05:00

"For the soul and body are not divided against one another as good and evil principles; and our salvation by no means consists of a rejection of the body in order to liberate the soul from the dominance of an evil material principle. On the contrary, our body is as much ourselves as the soul, and neither one without the other can claim to exist purely in its own right, as a true personal being.

Gnostic Nostalgia

2006-04-28T06:50:00.000-05:00

"The more things change the more things remain the same..." so the old saw goes. Ever since last post I've been spending extra time reading several of the Nag Hammdi texts including the newly translated Gospel of Judas.There is nothing new in this gospel--well, except the fact that Judas is the one who appears to be Jesus' favorite to receive true knowledge. In the Gospel of Thomas it was Thomas

Da Vinci and Judas?

2006-04-19T10:42:00.000-05:00

I've read the Da Vinci Code and enjoyed it--to a degree. However, the characters and plot were obvious. The ending was a huge let down--something you'd expect in a Harlequin Romance, perhaps. Then there were the incredible mistakes and outright fabrications regarding art, architecture, history and linguisitcs.Bishop of Durham, N. T. Wright clucked at the several inaccurate details of Westminster

Out For The Week

2006-04-04T23:44:00.000-05:00

This week I am in Overton, Texas teaching a seminar on "Purpose and Joy" at the little church I attended as a teenager. The lessons are all based on Ecclesiastes which, at first glance, seems to be the worst book to use as a text for purpose and joy! But as one writer put it: "You would save yourself a lot of heart ache if you would tuck this little book under your arm and carry it for a while."

Leading From Your Knees

2006-03-29T14:33:00.000-06:00

Wall Street Journal Columnist, Peggy Noonan caught my attention today. Her article was entitled "What Nobodies Know." It was a reflection on her reading of the 30-year-old classic Freedom At Midnight that told the story of the advent of democracy in India and the resulting violence that shook the world. She proceeds to compare the leadership of India at that time with our present situation in

Ten Commandments Displays

2006-03-22T13:23:00.000-06:00

Over the past five years there has been a lot of debate regarding the public display of the ten commandments. From Alabama's Judge Roy Moore and his 2 ton courthouse monument to the forty-year-old monument found on the Texas State Capitol grounds, people have argued for and against these displays on public, government owned property.I don't wish to enter the constitutional fray right now, but it

Telling the Story

2006-03-01T09:23:00.000-06:00

“I know, I have always known, what I want my stories to achieve—I want to make people believe. Believe what I tell. Believe in it. Believe me. Belief is the one effect I'm always looking for, and I apply every device, every pause, every gesture, every verbal nuance and twirl, to that end. To achieve it, I myself have to believe: if I don’t, who will? I must believe ancient

Men hold key to their wives' calm

2006-02-23T09:12:00.000-06:00

The title of today's post is unashamedly lifted from a Washington Times article by Jennifer Harper (February 20, 2006).It seems that University of Virginia pyschologist Jim Coan (through magnetic resonance imaging) discovered that the greatest source of peace for women during times of stress is not chocolate, alcohol, or bubble baths. It's the touch of their husbands' hand.The MRI showed

A Dangerous Place

2006-02-22T20:22:00.000-06:00

The world is a dangerous and violent place. One would think that such danger and violence would be found most often in the confines of the city. However, with the Indian Ocean Earthquake, the resultant tsunami, hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and cataclysms too numerous to mention, perhaps we should revise our opinion.Almost daily there is seismic activity around the world. Nature is groaning. Due