Sometimes I'm a little slow. It's true. I don't always read the Bible as
if it were for me. Lately I most often read scripture in search of a
sermon for the congregation. Now, I realize that most of these sermons
are also for me, but, yeah. I forget just to read for God's
leading for my own life, for a deeper understanding of my own place with
the People of God. It's a slippery slope.
It
didn't take our new governor long to stumble with his comment that if
you haven't accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, "You're not my brother and
you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother." It took the
governor a long time to apologize, saying he didn't mean to offend. I've
heard from lots of United Methodists who are not so much offended by
the governor's remarks as concerned that he - perhaps unintentionally -
misrepresented the Christian faith.
I’ve noticed my life slowing down to a crawl lately. Well, not
probably a crawl by any stretch of the means, but a crawl for me. I am
reading less and producing less than I did before. I think it’s because
we have a three month old…
In his role as prophet to the nation, Martin Luther King, Jr. drew on
the ancient wisdom of both the Greeks and Hebrews. From Aristotle he
learned that the character of an orator is of prime importance,
but not in the ways we moderns might imagine.
I chime in tonight to comment on President Obama's moving, scripture-laced speech at the memorial for the victims of the Tucson shootings. The president devoted much of the talk's opening movement to poignant eulogies for each of the six slain; he then issued a call for national unity and serious conversation in the wake of the tragedy.
This
week's sermon is a reflection on the recent events in Egypt. I am
struck by the witness to peace and interfaith respect that exists in the
midst of great violence. I am convicted of my own cowardice and
comparative faithlessness.
Growing up in the church, I knew all about the three wise men (although the
Bible doesn't actually say how many magi were there). But I'm not sure I
had ever heard of Epiphany. Like a lot of people, we just had the wise men show up with the shepherds at Christmas. They're still there
with those shepherds at the manger in the nativity set on display in our
living room.
I was sitting with a woman—a Mainline Christian woman—and we were
chatting about my background. I explained to her that my family is
politically and theologically conservative but that I had changed many
of the views that I grew up with as a young adult. She shook her head,
sighed, and said, “Well, people just need more education, that’s all.”
