Religious Shipwreck

The flotsam and jetsam of people wrecked by religion is floating everywhere. It’s not hard to find. One doesn’t even have to look for it, or better said “Them”. We find them as we walk along this sandy beach of faith. They’re not hard to spot if we are open and aware. Often times they…

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Christmas…Literally

“Out of Egypt I’ve called my son.” Hosea 11:1 “When Herod was dead an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying ‘Take the Child and go to Israel.” Matthew 2:19-21 Some people don’t like Christmas. Can you believe it? I’m not talking about the curmudgeonly Ebenezeer Scrooge types. I’m referring to…

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A Naked Christmas

“When did we see you naked?” Matt. 25:35-36 I love the manger scene for it’s sweet sentimentality, but not for it’s reality. It simply wasn’t like that! At least not initially. For as hard as Christians try to “dress up” Christmas—and dress up for it—the truth is that God comes to us naked! The baby…

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Christmas Love

“This is love . . . God loved us and sent His Son” 1 John “God’s Perfect Love Does Away with Fear” Tuesday was one of “those days”. The kind of day, and we’ve all had them, that from the time my feet hit the floor in the morning until I wearily hauled them back…

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Christmas Fear

“Fear not, for behold I bring you Good News of Great Joy . . . ““Perfect Love casts out all fear.” I’ve met a lot of fearful people this week. Some of them are afraid of getting dementia, or already have it and are afraid of what’s going to happen to them. Some are alone…

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Christmas Isolation or Who-bilation

“And God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone . . .” Christmas is SUCH a glorious time! I LOVE it! The darkness and lights, the snow and the cold; the festivities and food; the family and friends; the music and movies. Yes, maybe especially the movies. Chevy Chase in “Christmas Vacation”;…

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Thanksgiving Theotokos

During my pastor years I dreaded Thanksgiving. It was SO OBVIOUSLY an American observation unique to this country which had no significance for other cultures, no historical significance in the Christian Church, and no Scriptural mandate. It really didn’t even begin with the Pilgrims! President Lincoln declared it a holiday in 1863 during the Civil…

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Rejected Roses

Most of my days begin with an early morning walk. It gives me an opportunity to contemplate my morning meditation and appreciate the dawning of a new day. And also to occasionally find something that has been lost or thrown away. Some of the objects are pure trash, but others are treasures. I’ve found money,…

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Father Stephen

“Love the Lord your God and Love your Neighbor as your Self” I’ve heard that passage preached a plethora of times. But never with the power that I heard it proclaimed last Sunday. My sister Sue was visiting me from Wisconsin. She loves the southern part of Colorado, and so we took a little weekend…

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Messy Love

“This is Love . . . “ God’s love is messy. Messy love for messy lives. But that’s not what we want. We want the “Happily Ever After” fairy tale love. We want the kind of love we see in the movies or read in romance novels (no, I don’t actually read them!). That’s the…

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