Wandering Elder

At a recent Bible study on the Book of Revelation, we spent some time discussing the statement "mystery of God" found in the 10th chapter. Now, there are myriad ways in which the book of Revelation can be interpreted.  Some are more cogent than others, but they all have some slight validity given the source material.  The book is so odd that making sense of it is a huge task from whatever point of view you begin. But as we were talking about the phrase "mystery of God" I pointed out that the term itself isn't unique to Revelation.  It is, in fact, a pretty standard apocalyptic term used to mean divinely concealed information about the end of the age or about some divine/heavenly secret that cannot be shared unitl it is disclosed to the inspired insight of a prophet, apocalpticist, or visionary.  And that idea isn't unique to Revelation, either.  The idea that there are things in heaven and on earth that we cannot comprehend, let alone give descripti

My cousin Teri died when she was 26.   I was 24. Teri and I were not close as in ‘best of friends’ or ‘inseparable’ etc.   We would play around my grandparent's farm when my family would visit, and I looked forward to seeing her.  But, of my cousins, I would say she and I were closest.   Especially in the last years of her life, as we started having some deep conversations about life and faith and growing into adulthood from adolescence.   And then she died.   And now she’s gone. I recently saw her son, now approaching his 20s.   He looked strikingly like her in his face. I found in seeing him, I saw her.   In seeing him, I remembered whom I had lost in my cousin and my friend.   Shortly after her death, I made a comment from the pulpit about how my life was continuing on and hers was not.   I mentioned that I would miss her and I alluded to the pain I felt at knowing I would never see her again. After church I was verbally accosted by a woman who told me I w

In 1999, Genesis released the album "Turn It On Again" which was a greatest hits collection.  To that point, there weren't any official greatest hits albums by Genesis.  There were, of course, some collections that were out there.  Two that come to mind are  "Genesis:Rock Theatre" and "Turn it On Again" which was a 'best of' from 81-83 and was a German import.  The first one focused on the Peter Gabriel era Genesis and the second focusing on the more 'pop' oriented Phil Collins era Genesis. (I would note that the 1991 German import "Turn It On Again" did contain one of the better recordings of Phil Collins singing Firth of Fifth live which was also the B side to the single That's All.) So in 1999, the first official greatest hits emerges. But it doesn't seem like a real greatest hits for a band whose career began in 1968. That has to do with the notable absence of Peter Gabriel era songs.  There is only one o

One of the larger obstacles for many people in encountering the Bible is the question of approach.  How do you read this thing called the Bible?  How do you interpret the words found within? Both questions are answered largely before you ever open the book itself.  A few months ago, I overheard a conversation between two men about the Bible (overheard isn't quite right.  I was in a barber shop and the man in the chair was talking loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear).  The man (in the chair) said that his brother-in-law who, according to the man on more than one occasion, was very smart just "didn't get the Bible." Again, emphasizing that his brother-in-law was "very, very smart" explained that his brother-in-law didn't get the Bible because he was reading it incorrectly.  At this point, try as I might to not listen, I had to hear where this man was going with his argument.  How was this man reading the Bible that wasn't correct?

There are times in any relationship where the phrase "We need to talk" comes in to play.  Usually it has to do with some revelation, some topic, some subject that we would either wish to avoid, or that has so profoundly changed us as individuals that it has the potential to change the relationship. Sometimes these are profoundly positive.  Even so, we enter into those conversations with a certain level of trepidation.  "We need to talk" implies change.  And change is not always something we wish to encounter. What I find interesting is that while we seek to avoid these conversations in our daily life - or at least postpone them as long as possible - we very often completely miss the fact that there is a voice in our own head that can say those same words. "We need to talk." In our own lives, we find that we are continually inundated with what I have previously described as "noise."  Our minds are always at work, always processing, alway