The Beatitudes: Blessed are the poor in spirit Among the teachings of Jesus there are a few that stand out above the rest: The great commandment, The great commission, Love one another, and the parables. Another well-known yet misunderstood is The Beatitudes. they are Jesus’s step program for following The Way to the Kingdom […]
The Beatitudes: Blessed are the poor in spirit Read More »
How can the presence of God be described? There is a ministry for teens called Happening. It is a very effective program of spiritual renewal supervised by adults but lead by teens, for teens. At the beginning of the weekend experience the leader asks the participants to with hold their judgment until the end.
How can the presence of God be described? Read More »
Quiet It can be so very difficult to just be alone and quiet. It is especially true, I think, for extroverts like me. Sometimes I believe that thinking leads directly to speaking. Secondarily, writing like this is quietly extroverting. Perhaps using a meditative word or phrase is about as close as I can get. I
Paul’s Prayer Before I begin read his prayer for believers. It is one of my favorite passages and favorite prayers! For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through
In this day and age, why go to Church? These days there is a lot of debate about the Ten Commandments. One the one side are secularist who believe the Constitution says freedom “from” religion, when it really says freedom “of” religion. On the other side are conservative Christians who think that our country was
In this day and age, why go to Church? Read More »
Church is not for Saints it’s for Sinners If you hang around preachers long enough you hear a lot of pithy sayings. This is one of my favorites. The church is not a museum for Saints. It’s a hospital for sinners. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
Church is not for Saints it’s for Sinners Read More »
The Great Outdoors Our own state park We are blessed to own a piece of The Great Outdoors. I like to say “we have our own State Park. If you have not been so blessed there are many beautiful State and Federal Parks to visit. I have heard ,any people from any places say they
The Great Outdoors Read More »
I keep a file in my brain that I call “I didn’t know that was in there!” it’s for passages of scripture that I find by surprise. Perhaps some of you are like me and have read the Bible for years. Then stories have become so familiar you think you know them well. It
I didn’t know that was in there! Read More »
Arriving at the Other Shore My new friend Bret is a priest with the Charismatic Episcopal Church (CEC). As a recent convert to that denomination I have been watching the daily noon service from The Cathedral of Christ the King in Selma, Alabama. On Thursday Bret was preaching. The Gospel was from Mark, chapter
Arriving at the Other Shore Read More »
Healing Prayer can be both a simple and nuanced practice. In our personal daily prayer time we can simply remember to offer a word or two by name of those for whom we care. Like wise we can of course prayer for our selves. “Help” is the simplest. In addition it is good to visualize