Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

My current sermon series is focused on offering realistic guides to improving the prayer life of people who feel that it is important. The last sermon was on models of prayer. It was grounded in the model of prayer Jesus taught the crowds on the side of mountain and taught the disciples when they asked. We have come to call this The Lord's Prayer. And it is repeated throughout churches and homes on a regular basis. I drew the implication out of what Jesus says in those passages relevant to the prayer (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4) that this was not THE prayer that followers were to pray, but a model to prayer. That is my take on that passage. It can be read in the sense that this was the prayer that they were supposed to pray. The disciples seemed to take it that way and commend early Christians to pray that same prayer (plus the line "for yours is the power and glory forever) three times a day. The point I wanted to make is that models of prayer are useful guides in enteri...

I have been dumbfounded over the turn of events in the last few days. This weekend saw the unfolding of a dramatic political catastrophe as President Trump issued an executive order halting refugees and immigrants from certain nations. There are various stipulations and exceptions included, as is the case with most actions of government officials. But the issuance of the executive order has led to the most chaotic of weekends. The primary means of entrance to the United States for refugees and immigrants is by air. The international ports of entry have been doing the job of following the order the President has executed. That has turned the major entry port airports of the nation into hubs of chaos, protest, and confusion. Those persons and families that were leaving their country of origin when the ban went into effect were not allowed to fly to the U.S. Those who were on planes and landed were denied entrance and detained or were forced to return to their country of origin. Some wh...

I am sitting here working through the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6. It is the foundation for my sermon Sunday. I am cruising along doing some work in Greek (yes, I still have a little functionality in the language). I am working down through some alternate translations to squeak out subtle meaning that is lost in the rote recitation we sometimes fall into. There is some interesting things for study and preaching. The one thing that is stopping me to write this is one little word: epiousios. The familiar phrase is "give us this day our daily bread". Every word in that phrase is common and easily understood except for epiousios - daily. All my life I have visualized and understood this phrase to mean that God is providential to the level of taking care of our daily needs. And it is a refreshing thought to know that our creating God is also compassionate toward our insignificant needs of daily providing. That is the kind of God we have. The word, though, is strange. It app...

I have spoken of my respect for E . Stanley Jones . I return to his sermons and writings often times when I am in need of wisdom or learning. He is my favorite theologian of the 20th Century. In 1943, ESJ published a little booklet or large pamphlet, How To Pray . It is not long. It only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to read through attentively. It is very practical and down to earth, as was Jones' style. It is worth reading if you would like to transform your understanding of prayer. Because I am preaching a series of sermons on Improving Our Praying Lives. I wanted to offer some practical guidance on how to pray more often or longer. Essentially, I wanted to offer something to people so they could get more out of their time of prayer. ESJ's booklet has been one of my resources of study for this series. I didn't want to take his guidance and turn it around in my sermons. Instead, I have really distilled the information into my own offer of guidance. What he offers to...

I didn't write yesterday. And I forgive myself. I sat here and started to write something about the beginning of Trump's presidency and where I am with that. But I wasn't feeling it. I couldn't inject (or eject) the emotional energy to make something appear. But I forgive myself for not getting that done. It wasn't really a horrible failure. I accomplished other things that were appropriate to the bigger picture. I am going to attempt to process my view of the Trump presidency. This is not an opinion piece. It is the attempt to form an opinion. I am not sure of anything at this stage of forming an opinion. This is the content of an email I wrote to a trusted friend. I was asking his help in working through these thoughts. I share them here, with some expanded thoughts, as part of my processing. I am trying to process the transfer of power. One thing that I notice about the method of how we move from one leader to another is relatively easy compared to some...

Writing fiction is something I have thought about for nearly 20 years. It began in seminary. I don't know what started it. I can't point a finger at the impetus for it. I only know that sometime during seminary, I began to write down story ideas. And I still have those notes. They are going to be the seeds for Friday Fictions. I don't plan on being an author. There are plenty of other fiction writers that do a much better job than I ever will. I may eventually try my hand at publishing them through Amazon's service, but who knows. I just know that I have stories that bounce around in my brain. And they want to come out. I also want to get them out. I would like to free up some hard drive space in the mental attic. A lot of the ideas I came up with during that time were allegories. They grew out of the intense period of study and introspection that seminary requires. The allegories are the ramblings of a young theologue. I had so many new concepts and models paraded ...

For 2017, I have set a goal for myself. I am trying to write more. I have a few reasons I want or need to do this. I need a place to process thoughts and emotions. It is safe to post things here because very few people frequent this little corner of the internet. And the few who have made this a stopping place are people I feel comfortable blathering on about internal stuff. I need to sharpen my focus. I feel I may be losing some of my thinking focus. Perhaps age is the foe I am trying to defeat. Perhaps it is mental laziness. Either way, I want to exercise my thought process and writing seems to be a way to do that. I have projects that I want to finish. I have a book idea on applying best practices of Walt Disney in hospitality and creativity within the life of the church. I have 3 different ideas for fiction that I want to play out. I have plot lines and stories for Dungeons and Dragons that may be interesting to collect in a written form. All of these projects require writing t...

One of my favorite shows that I am watching regularly is Curse of Oak Island. It is a reality show (which really isn't my style of show) about 2 brothers on a quest to discover the secret (treasure) of Oak Island. If you are not aware of Oak Island, then allow me to give you a brief history. Near Nova Scotia, there is a small island. About 220 years ago, a treasure hunt began on that island. Some boys found a depression in the ground at the base of a tree. From one of the branches, right above the depression, there was a ship's tackle block. It seemed that something may be buried under the surface of that depression. Digging began not long after. And has continued until this day. The Money Pit of Oak Island has been the focus of excavations, treasure tales, and conspiracy theories ever since. I fell in love with the mystery of Oak Island when I read about it in a Reader's Digest collection of stories titled Strange Stories, Amazing Facts . I loved the mystery of it. If ...

Last night I experienced something that was either barbecue gone bad or a minor anxiety attack. Whatever the cause, I was afraid. I won't bother with the focus of the fear, because that is not important to this expression of thought. I will say that I know that anxiety and fear were a part of it because it was the same emotions I experienced during my faux-heart attack spell with my gallbladder. Same emotions and feelings. And I hate it. I have some fears that I am very up front about. I am afraid of water. This is an old fear. It dates back to when I was a kid. I remember the moment it began. We were at a lake. A family friend was carrying me on his shoulders. And then he dunked us in the water. I got a snout full of water and started choking. It shocked me. And to this day, water still causes problems for me. If I am in a body of water and it splashes me in the face, I experience panic symptoms. If I stay in the shower too long or am having a particular type of day, the water...

News is spreading this morning that the Ringling Bros. Circus is ending its 146 year run. The leading cause of the end of the show is it has become an unrealistic business model. Ticket sales have declined. The cost to move the show with its many animals and performers is too high to continue. For almost 150 years, this show has brought joy and wonder to the hearts and minds of children and adults. And now the curtain if falling on the greatest show on earth. I was reading this article from the New York Times. As I was reading it, I couldn't help but notice that the tone of what was happening to Ringling Bros. is a similar tone that could be applied to the American church. ...cited declining ticket sales,... American churches across the theological spectrum are seeing declining offerings. There are endless reasons for this. And there are a number of strategies to counteract the decline. But there is no denying that churches are working with less revenue. It is just a reality t...

It never fails that when January rolls around, there is a complex of emotions that settle within me. As I have taken stock of my life and what I experience, and explored the information available to me, I believe that I experience Seasonal Affective Disorder. It has been called winter blues. It is recognized as a legitimate type of depression. It is tied to the seasons, in particular the late Fall and Winter seasons. For me, I begin to experience it in January and it lasts through March. At times it has been worrisome for me. The expression that I experience the most is a feeling of worthlessness. My mind is attracted to the idea that I am useless to people (family, church, colleagues). I dwell in the playground of convincing myself that I am not needed by anyone. Over the time frame of weeks that I experience this, it progresses and worsens. It is not a good feeling. It is not something that I can just "shake it off". It is not just a matter of thinking about something e...

Before we get to life after death we should have a clear understanding of life here and now. Jesus spoke the words from Matthew 6 to a gathering of people on the side of a hill. They were people who wanted more out of life. He reminded them that life was more than the everyday grind of life. We are prone to lower our eyes and look at life as only going from one day to the next. But life is more than providing for day to day necessities Genesis 1:30 – life is the very breath of God inside of us. We are animated by the breath of the very same God to spoke creation into existence. Our lives are more than just mundane day to day existence. We have within us life that comes from God. Even that is not the full meaning of life Jesus speaks a lot about life and eternal life. John 6:35 – the bread of life that brings eternal life. What many people often confuse is what eternal life means. This is also part of the confusion with heaven. Eternal life is not about some existence afte...