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Thinking Faith: May 2015
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Sunday, May 24, 2015. The Nones Also Rise. They gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? The ‘nones” are still growing. Six years ago I used that same passage from Matthew’s Gospel in a blog post. When I wrote that original post, the “nones” had grown from just 8% of the U.S. population in 1990 to 15% in 2008. Today that same group comprises 23% of the population. Over that same peri...We are not surprised.
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Thinking Faith: January 2015
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Wednesday, January 28, 2015. 8220;Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”. Recently I came across an essay by Mark Tooley. Called “Calvinist Evangelicals in a United Methodist Church! He is saddened, he says, that there are no comparable United Methodist alternatives. “Sometimes ov...As a pa...
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Thinking Faith: December 2014
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Monday, December 29, 2014. The Work of Christmas. Like Mary, we should treasure the words of the story and ponder their meaning. This year on Christmas Eve, our Christmas Pageant closed with a wonderful poem by Howard Thurman, an African American preacher and theologian, who was Dean of the Chapel at Boston University from 1953 to 1964. The poem is about what it means to take the Christmas message seriously. It is titled, “The Work of Christmas.”. When the song of the angels is stilled,. To find the lost,.
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Thinking Faith: Three Simple Mistakes That Preachers Make
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Tuesday, August 11, 2015. Three Simple Mistakes That Preachers Make. I give you a new commandment that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.". Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”. How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’? John 6:35, 41-42. The sermon seemed to have three main points:. 1 All God asks of us is that we believe. Parts of John are a...
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Thinking Faith: Who Do You Trust?
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Wednesday, August 5, 2015. Who Do You Trust? A Protest in New York against the Iran Nuclear Pact. He shall judge between the nations,. And shall arbitrate for many peoples;. They shall beat their swords into plowshares,. And their spears into pruning hooks;. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,. Neither shall they learn war any more. Once upon a time there was a quiz show called, “Who Do You Trust? 8221; In its original incarnation it was called, “Do You Trust Your Wife? Which is part of the pr...
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Thinking Faith: Hiroshima, Seventy Years Ago Today
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Thursday, August 6, 2015. Hiroshima, Seventy Years Ago Today. Hiroshima after the Atomic Bomb. 8220;Blessed are the peacemakers,. For they will be called children of God.”. 8220;War is essentially the denial of everything Christ stood for.”. But now, when I re-read “Shall the Fundamentalists Win? 8221; I am struck by its relevance for our time. Fosdick’s liberal theology, which seemed so pale and lifeless when I was in seminary, now looks both profound and prophetic. Truthfully, I held thos...Still, I wa...
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Thinking Faith: August 2015
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Tuesday, August 25, 2015. President Carter: Naming the Demon of Racism. President Carter announcing his cancer diagnosis. Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him they begged him to leave their neighborhood. I said they refused Jesus, too, and he said, “You’re not him.”. They asked Jesus to leave because he had been casting out demons. 1 The demons recognize Jesus. They see the truth in him and they are afraid. 3 People get nervous when demons are cast out. The first episode come...
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Thinking Faith: August 2014
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Thursday, August 28, 2014. The Fierce Urgency of Now. Rev Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963. On this day in 1963, Dr. King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered what we now call the “I Have a Dream Speech” to 200,000 peaceful advocates for racial justice. They were marching, he said, to “demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice,” and to remind the nation of what he called “the fierce urgency of now.”. And we have a long way to go. Studies have shown that when d...
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Thinking Faith: February 2015
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Monday, February 16, 2015. MG's, Mystical Visions, and Marcus Borg. Suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him! 8221; When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. In his book, “Convictions,” the late Marcus Borg describes a series of mystical experiences that convinced him of the reality and the mystery of God. What model of MG was it? Was it an MGA? Many of my chi...
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Thinking Faith: April 2015
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Wednesday, April 29, 2015. Baltimore Is a Symptom of Racism in America. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Before we go to Baltimore, let’s begin with some background. Unconscious racism is more diffi...
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