Wandering Elder

Very recently at a Wednesday night Bible study, I found myself struggling to keep anger out of my heart.  That had to do with the presence of a gentleman who had an issue with a statement I had made in the sermon from the previous Sunday. After church that Sunday, this gentleman approached me to explain his take on what I had said and that I was incorrect.  After a few minutes of dialogue, I felt I had explained my point and that what he had heard was not quite what I had meant.  Believing we were on the same page, we walked away just fine. When I saw him the next Wednesday at Bible study, I was a little surprised - he doesn't normally...well, ever...attend.  Having been in this profession for a while now, I was (sad to say) suspicious.  Moving into the fourth week of a discussion on a particular New Testament book, I continued by picking up where we had left in previous meetings. A few minutes into the discussion which was a little of a recap, this gentle...

I recently found a flyer/brochure for a Bible themed dinner theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  One of the offerings is a dinner show that is called "Ole Timey Gospel Legends" that will feature "Legends of Faith from the Bible and East Tennessee!"  I won't go into the whole list, but the idea sounds laughable already. Legends of faith from the Bible and [insert your immediate area here].  It apparently isn't enough of a draw unless you can tie local "legends of faith" into the mix.  From the Bible are listed Peter, Daniel, Noah, Moses, Elijah, King David, and Ezekiel.  The remaining 13 names are Tennessee legends of faith - and does that mean that they had legendary faith or that their faith is a legend? I'm not saying that the names they have listed aren't legends of faith (Elvis tops the list, by the way), but they seem to pale in comparison to, say, Elijah.  Maybe they do but I find that I don't put them in the same category. ...

I was fortunate to visit Rosslyn Chapel (whose formal name is actually the Collegiate Chapel of St. Matthew) in Scotland.  If you don't know anything about this place, I would suggest reading up about it.  It is a wonder to behold to say the very least. Mostly it is known from the DaVinci Code book and movie as being a place with hidden symbols (all of which Dan Brown manged to solve, apparently).  In that regard, the book and movie are dead on.  The entirety of the chapel is covered in carvings and symbols.  In many ways it is like looking at a giant hidden picture puzzle in that there seems to always be more there than what you saw the first time you looked. And conspiracy theories abound about the place - and one can easily see why.  The chapel is a trove of symbols and strange carvings.  The history of the chapel is pretty well understood, but we don't know what all the designs and symbols meant either to the stone masons or the original congre...

A short aside: A few weeks back, I wrote "The Best and the Brightest?"  If you found it interesting, you might want to read this article: www.yahoo.com/politics/are-we-getting-the-leaders-1397064998158390.html and read about a very under the radar speech. See what you think. Several weeks ago, I began putting my notes together for a study of the New Testament book (or epistle, which is more correct) of Hebrews.  As I was looking over those notes, I found my attention turning to one of my favorite passages from Plato - the allegory of the cave.  Found in Plato's Republic , it is a fantastic observation on the nature of truth and what the consequences of truth can be. Briefly, the allegory is that people are trapped in a cave, in the dark, with only shadows projected on a wall in front of them.  Those shadows are the illusion of reality that we accept.  There are, however, those who manage to break free and leave the cave to find the 'real' world beyond. ...

As this is Holy Week, I find that I ponder a very particular aspect of the story of Jesus' passion that involves an event around the Last Supper.  Jesus has just announced that one of the people at the table with him was going to betray him.  In the oldest version of this story, found in the Gospel of Mark, we read that after Jesus had said these words, "They began to be sorrowful, and to say to him one after another, 'Is it I?" The response is telling and troubling.  It wasn’t that they were going to betray Jesus, it was that they all thought they might .    They all knew they had the potential for betrayal. Therefore the need for Jesus to offer clarification, which apparently was only understood much later.  Even when Judas leaves the table, there still seems to be some concern that it wasn't him and that the betrayer still dwells among them like some sleeper agent; that there might be another who is the unknowing, unwitting betrayer of this m...

Logic is not the natural disposition of human beings.  Sometimes it appears to not even be our goal.  It appears, more often than not, that we would rather remain in a superstitious, folklore driven state of mind than to pursue logic.  It also seems obvious that we will follow people who seem to have our best interests in mind or who give voice to our hopes or dreams or even our hatreds.  And once we give them our loyalty, logic be damned because it has become a matter of belief, even one of faith. It is how Jim Jones managed to convince the people to drink the poison.  It is how Hitler came to power.  It is also how the Apostle Paul founded churches and how Jesus became important beyond his temporal context. What you see quickly from these four names is that the list is not necessarily one of evil and good, but that the people who followed (or follow) these names have ascribed to them ultimate truth.  The nefariousness or benevolence of these to w...

With Super Tuesday behind us, I have to wonder.  Is this  the best we have to offer ourselves?  Let's assume that Clinton and Trump are going to be our two major choices for president.  My question is: how did it come down to these two?  Are they the best?  Certainly not. One need only have listened to the news a few years back to have heard enough about both of these candidates to know two things. 1.  You can't trust them except  for the fact that... 2.  They will do anything to succeed. Clinton has the liberal label and Trump courts the evangelical Christians.  I am not sure how to get a handle on either of those two facts.  Especially the Trump/evangelical connection.  How does a man who has difficulty correctly citing the Bible - in particular the letters of Paul in the New Testament (remember the "two Corinthians" statement?) - become the champion, defender, and candidate for the religious right?  I mean, when t...