To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here It’s safe to say that many people find TV commercials annoying. But they’re also amazing. In the space of 30-60 seconds, a commercial has to deliver – clearly and memorably – two potentially life-altering messages. First, you are not happy. Second, happiness is just one purchase away. A truly compelling ad… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Most people agree on the basic facts of Jesus’ life. He lived in Judea during the opening decades of the first century. He became known as a prophet, teacher, and miracle-worker. He died on a cross by order of a Roman procurator. There’s not nearly as much consensus, however, about what… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In the late 1970s, commercial deep sea fishermen made an amazing discovery off the coast of Australia. Nearly a mile beneath the surface there were vast schools of a large, reddish-orange species of fish. They were delicious. Their filets, which exuded almost no fishy smell or taste, delighted chefs. From a… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here When someone else is hurting, it’s tempting to think our call is to do something amazing or to say something unusually wise. But most of the time, the need of the hour is simply to show up. In his recent bestseller How to Know a Person, cultural commentator David Brooks recounts… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Many of us still flinch at the memory of high school English, especially our initial exposure to “great poetry.” Great poetry is not often easy to grasp, let alone appreciate. It doesn’t always rhyme and rarely appears in Hallmark cards, let alone pop music or everyday conversation. Such is the work… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here More than anything, the young Winston Churchill yearned for the affection and approval of his father. But Sir Randolph Churchill, a rising star in Britain’s Conservative Party at the turn of the last century, appears to have been ill-equipped to be a supportive dad. He rarely even spoke to his gifted but sensitive… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The 2012 film The Help depicts life in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962 – particularly the intersecting worlds of the black women (“the help”) who work as maids, cooks, and child caregivers and the white women whose households they serve. Hilly Holbrook, one of the housewives, is an angry, self-absorbed, manipulative racist. … Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here It’s coming. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Just when you thought 2024 couldn’t get any crazier – what with a total solar eclipse, crowds flocking to see a movie depicting a future civil war, and a November election that for some reason keeps popping up in the news… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In the ancient world the most durable containers were carved out of stone. That’s where royalty would safeguard their treasures. A rich family might keep an especially prized possession in an alabaster box. Ordinary families, however, had to resort to clay jars. And clay jars were a dime a dozen. In… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Membership has its privileges. That’s the marketing slogan American Express copyrighted in 1980, the beginning of what became a “what’s-in-it-for-me” American decade. As one would-be church member asked me while I was planting a Presbyterian congregation during that time, “What do I get if I join?” The first time I replied… Read more »
