In Luke 10:25-37 an expert in Jewish Law asks Jesus about what he must do to go to heaven. As an expert in Jewish Law, he knew the answer. He was testing Jesus. Not surprising, Jesus turns the table on him and asks the expert, “What does the Jewish Law say?” Quick with an answer…
Back when I had cable TV, I would often watch movies that I would never ever pay money to see in the theater. For example, there was a terrible movie that came out in 2000 called “Bedazzled.” If the name doesn’t ring a bell, be thankful. It was awful. The plot of this movie is…
Many Bethel people wanted to see the letter I preached about last Sunday. It was written before election day and was addressed to whoever won the election. We now know who won the election. The letter still stands. I have only added a postscript that reflects the current state of events. Everything else in the…
Whew! I am glad the baseball season is over. I am not sure my heart and my head could take much more after Wednesday night’s extra inning, game 7. Most of you know what happened, the Chicago Cubs after 108 years won the World Series. It was the longest championship “drought” of any sports team…ever….
Last week on Facebook I posted this short (true) story… Rabbi Abraham Heschel (one of greatest Jewish theologians and mystics of the 20th century) had a conversation with his daughter many, many years ago about creation… “When I build, I build with my blocks. When those men built our house, they used bricks and cement….
I ran across a handout that Dartmouth College assembled for its employees. The subject of the handout is “workplace bullying.” They use: the following sources to compile this handout: U.S. Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Labor (OSHA) and the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. You might be asking…
On Wednesday night 40 of us gathered at Bethel and watched the documentary “When God left the Building.” (For those of you who call Bethel home, you can check the video out of the library at church.) The documentary talks about the decline of church attendance across the United States. To help the watcher understand…
Did you know that if Facebook was a nation it would be the largest country in the world? Yep, there are about 1.7 billion people on Facebook. Yes, I know not everyone uses Facebook or social media of any kind but there is a reason people continue to invent and use such technologies. Connection. We…
If you read last week’s article I wanted you to know that I did make it to San Diego and everything was just fine. I also returned with only a 20-minute delay on Monday morning. Nothing but “First World problems.” All is good. While I was in San Diego, I had the privilege to go…
In his book “Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life”, the author Charles Swindoll tells a story about the 19th Century agnostic Thomas Huxley (some of you might know that it was Huxley who promoted Darwinism and Humanism in his attacks on Christianity). Huxley was in Dublin and was rushing to catch a train. He…
