jondisburg.com
Caffeinated God-Talk: September 2011
http://www.jondisburg.com/2011_09_01_archive.html
Tuesday, September 27, 2011. Years ago I was in a group of clergy who met weekly to share our experiences, our woes, our joys, and, in general, how it was with our soul. One of our members was a second career pastor whose first career was as a lawyer. I’ve never forgotten his assessment of the causes of dis-ease and decline found in many local congregations. 8220;Res ipsa loquitur,” he said. I went home and did some research on the legal principle of res ipsa loquitur. Recently had abdominal surgery.
jondisburg.com
Caffeinated God-Talk: March 2012
http://www.jondisburg.com/2012_03_01_archive.html
Thursday, March 22, 2012. It was my day off and I was still in the process of moving into the parsonage in. My wife is still in. FIVE HOURS LATER…I’m looking at digital pictures of gravestones in Truro, England with my mother’s last name on them. I’ve been captivated by digital photos of census records from 1830; bills of lading listing passengers from places like. I’ve learned that one of my ancestors had a child whose place of death and burial is. 8220;Axmen”) in. Great-Grandfather, John Webster, was G...
jondisburg.com
Caffeinated God-Talk: ...In My Heart...
http://www.jondisburg.com/2011/11/in-my-heart.html
Tuesday, November 8, 2011. This video has crossed my computer desktop more than once recently and I’m just enough of a mystic to think that God may be trying to get my attention. It’s part of a presentation Francis Chan gave at the RightNow Pastors Conference. Here it is…. I love the last analogy about telling your child to clean their room. How true! Moving it from heart to mouth, or hands, or feet is risky business. Proof? To be fair, I’ve seen others say the figure is once every 15-17 years....The ...
jondisburg.com
Caffeinated God-Talk: November 2011
http://www.jondisburg.com/2011_11_01_archive.html
Tuesday, November 8, 2011. This video has crossed my computer desktop more than once recently and I’m just enough of a mystic to think that God may be trying to get my attention. It’s part of a presentation Francis Chan gave at the RightNow Pastors Conference. Here it is…. I love the last analogy about telling your child to clean their room. How true! Moving it from heart to mouth, or hands, or feet is risky business. Proof? To be fair, I’ve seen others say the figure is once every 15-17 years....The ...
jondisburg.com
Caffeinated God-Talk: Midwives & General Conference
http://www.jondisburg.com/2011/10/midwives-general-conference.html
Tuesday, October 25, 2011. Midwives and General Conference. O God, they begged you for help when they were in trouble,. When your discipline was so heavy. They could barely whisper a prayer. Like a woman having a baby,. Writhing in distress, screaming her pain. As the baby is being born,. That's how we were because of you, O God. We were pregnant full-term. We writhed in labor but bore no baby. We gave birth to wind. Nothing came of our labor. We produced nothing living. We couldn't save the world. In on...
jondisburg.com
Caffeinated God-Talk: December 2013
http://www.jondisburg.com/2013_12_01_archive.html
Saturday, December 14, 2013. Don't Let Them Steal Your Christmas. So there I was eating lunch in front of the TV – a few days after Halloween – trying to come up with worship themes for Advent/Christmas – when what to my wondering ears should appear? An expression – a campaign – a mindset – that raises my blood pressure to dangerous levels each year at this time. The presentation of the thesis that nearly had me throw what was left of my Subway sandwich at the screen went like this:. Assumption that it i...
jondisburg.com
Caffeinated God-Talk: August 2011
http://www.jondisburg.com/2011_08_01_archive.html
Tuesday, August 30, 2011. I was doing some research for a sermon series the other day when I stumbled upon a website that automatically linked to a podcast. The purpose of the podcast was a “Christian rant” against Rick Warren, the renowned author and pastor of Saddleback Church. The question at stake was: Is Rick Warren a true Calvinist? The speaker proceeded to examine Warren’s writing and preaching against the T-U-L-I-P doctrinal acronym (an explanation can be found here. Talk radio has turned this be...
jondisburg.com
Caffeinated God-Talk: Crunky Questions
http://www.jondisburg.com/2011/10/crunky-questions.html
Tuesday, October 4, 2011. October is a month for a “small group immersion” for the two churches I serve. It is the second time this year we’ve had this kind of experience. As many who read this already know too well, it is difficult to get folks to commit to the 30 week studies that were more common in years past. Today, it seems the magic number is 6 as the majority of small group studies and resources are published in 6-lesson units. More challenging is the divergent. Over the past several weeks as I&#...
jondisburg.com
Caffeinated God-Talk: Don't Let Them Steal Your Christmas
http://www.jondisburg.com/2013/12/dont-let-them-steal-your-christmas.html
Saturday, December 14, 2013. Don't Let Them Steal Your Christmas. So there I was eating lunch in front of the TV – a few days after Halloween – trying to come up with worship themes for Advent/Christmas – when what to my wondering ears should appear? An expression – a campaign – a mindset – that raises my blood pressure to dangerous levels each year at this time. The presentation of the thesis that nearly had me throw what was left of my Subway sandwich at the screen went like this:. Assumption that it i...
jondisburg.com
Caffeinated God-Talk: July 2011
http://www.jondisburg.com/2011_07_01_archive.html
Tuesday, July 26, 2011. For What It's Worth. What the chirp of cicadas is to the Midwest, the topping out of the Fireweed plant is to Alaska: a harbinger of the end of summer. I love these God-made signs of the inevitabile cycle of time and change. They bring to mind promises of God's providence and presence. They are God's ways of saying "gather ye rosebuds (. Or Fireweed ) while ye may.". This God-authored drama of life and death is one in which we're privileged to have a front row seat. When I began w...
