Posted in October 2010

Thankfulness

Thanksgiving’s coming! Thanksgiving is a weird holiday, isn’t it? There’s the food: too much of it, usually, and things you don’t see the rest of the year, like cranberry relish and yams. There’s the spectacle on TV, starting with parades and ending with as many football games as you can fit into 24 hours and … Continue reading »

Glimmers of Hope (Even in Jeremiah!)

For the past several weeks, my devotional reading plan has had me in Jeremiah. And, you know what? That’s not the most uplifting book in the whole Bible. (Yes, I’ve read the “good bits” in chapters 29-33.) The readings for the past week or two haven’t been much fun, with all sorts of threats (“oracles”) … Continue reading »

Sexuality Debate

I really enjoyed Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. In fact, I liked it so much, I subscribed to his blog at donaldmilleris.com. That’s where I just noticed this article. It’s a bit dated, and it’s about Eddie Long, who I’d never heard of until a month ago. But I’m posting it … Continue reading »

Heroes and mentors

Only last night, I was bemoaning how the PC(USA) does such a lousy job of developing new pastors. (I.e., me.) You get an education, you get evaluated on your gifts for ministry, and then you get turned loose on some poor, unsuspecting church. In too many ways, you’re on your own as a pastor. Our … Continue reading »

The Best Apologetic

Twenty-odd years ago, I became a Christian, and part of the reason was apologetics, or defenses of the faith. God used several books, including C.S. Lewis’ wonderful Mere Christianity, to overcome my objections to the Christian faith. By the time I got to seminary, however, I was really pretty bored with apologetics. It’s not that … Continue reading »

Starry Nights in Yucca Valley

Today is the Starry Nights festival in Yucca Valley, and it has been a beautiful night for stargazing. After going to one of the talks this afternoon, we went to the digital-astronomy presentation tonight at the community center. That was so much fun we came home and did some more stargazing from our front yard. … Continue reading »

Christianity a ‘Faded Memory’

The Christian Post reports today that for most young Britons, Christianity is “a faded memory.” This is from a survey of 300 people born after 1982. Most young people in Britain consider Christianity irrelevant to their lives but they are not as hostile towards religion as their parents’ generation, researchers in the Church of England … Continue reading »

Picking Elders

It’s time to pick new elders. If someone on the nominating committee calls you and asks you to serve, and you ask what you have to do, they might go to that horrible laundry list in G-10.0102 that enumerates all the specific areas of responsibility held by Session. But that’s the wrong place to start. … Continue reading »

Pew Religious Knowledge Survey

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life just published the results of a survey they conducted to gauge people’s level of general religious knowledge. I’ll post more about the survey later, but first, let me invite you to take the survey yourself. P.S.: the question I missed was about an eastern religion, and I … Continue reading »