Wandering Elder

I had lunch today with an old friend of mine with whom I had a great conversation about theology, biblical 'truths' and the interpretation of the Christian faith.  It was a great conversation because honest questions were asked and (hopefully) honest answers were given. The difficulty most people would have had with our conversation would likely stem from two points.  First, they are questions that come from some levels of doubt.  Perhaps not so much from doubt, but from a genuine desire to understand in relation to questions that are not clearly dealt with in the Bible.  The second difficulty might come from the fact that I am a pastor. Let me address the second one first. As a pastor, I find that there are loads and loads of assumptions made about what I do and don't believe (Being United Methodist, one need only read the Book of Discipline to see the doctrinal standards our denomination holds).  Also, there is the expectation that I have access to answers that I ac

I miss browsing through a music store.  Sure, sure, you can go online and find any and everything you want, but the act of browsing was much more enjoyable in a brick and mortar store, at least in my opinion. Part of that had to do with the fact that there was music playing.  Perhaps something you liked, perhaps not.  Or perhaps it was something new and it sparked your interest.  Many was the time I heard something playing and headed over to the desk to ask "Who is that?"  Usually that was followed by someone pointing or leading me to a particular genre of music and pulling the CD out of the rack for me to look over. There was something, too, about going into a store that was very particular.  Music stores are just an example, but I didn't go for convenience sake - I didn't plan to pick up any groceries at Cat's Records.  Instead, I went to peruse the music.  I may not have had any intention on buying anything but I enjoyed being surrounded by the possibilitie

Back in November, at the beginning of Advent, I proposed a challenge to myself which was to read the Gospels as if I had never read them before and to read them without commentaries or out of a bible with footnotes (I'm not sure if I spelled all that out in the challenge, but those were the rules I set for myself).  In all honesty, I didn't expect the challenge to take too long. I was wrong. I was wrong because I found that almost immediately I had a notebook filling up with questions and comments.  Deliberately trying to put blinders on as I read the Gospel of Matthew was enlightening.  I was thrown almost immediately by how much I, as a pastor (and probably more so as a Christian) take for granted.  Let me give you an example. Right away in the Gospel of Matthew we read that Jesus is the Son of David and the Son of Abraham.  Now, I know  how those two phrases are supposed to be understood.  However, if I did not , I would be utterly confused.  Is Jesus' dad named Da