To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Rod Serling, Hollywood’s “angry young man” during the 1950s, had a dream. He would write and produce cutting-edge TV dramas that explored the social issues he cared about passionately. Those included racism, war, censorship, fear, injustice, nuclear paranoia, and the emerging power of television to influence culture. But all he heard from network executives and… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Something has been bothering me for 37 years. This week, I finally did something about it. In 1989, the McDonalds ventured to a local theater to see Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, lighthearted family fare about a scientist/inventor (played by Rick Moranis) whose quirky “shrinking machine” accidentally reduces his two children and a couple… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here As the Cold War began to heat up in the 1950’s, America’s leaders felt led to make a public statement that their chief adversary, the Soviet Union, would have to notice. If the Soviets believed in state-sponsored atheism, the United States would counter with government-endorsed theism. The 84th Congress passed a joint resolution that declared… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Stuart Briscoe and his wife Jill, who are natives of England, came to America some years ago to help launch a new congregation in the Midwest. They had been in the States only a short while when they made their first trip to Chicago to attend a conference. Briscoe’s car was low on fuel, but he was… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” That was the core message of the Atheist Bus Campaign in Britain early in 2009. Comedy writer Ariane Sherine, in partnership with Cambridge professor Richard Dawkins (currently the world’s highest profile atheist), plastered their slogan on the sides of 800 buses around the country. The campaign was a response… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here His real name was William Griffith Wilson. But for most of his life he was known as Bill W or just Bill. On May 12, 1935, he journeyed from his New York home to Akron, Ohio, intent on closing a business deal. There was a lot at stake. Wilson was an alcoholic who had been… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Your smartphone is not your best friend. Nor is it the key to finding personal security and happiness. That’s the message being embraced by more and more health care professionals to those who are having a hard time turning off and turning away from their phones. San Diego State psychology professor Jean Twenge… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Revive and Restore sounds like a spiritual retreat ministry. In truth, it’s a consortium of biologists and geneticists who have been working for years to clone a number of creatures that used to walk and fly amongst us. Their flagship project is the passenger pigeon, billions of which lived in North America until they… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here One of America’s most famous musical compositions has a powerful spiritual core. In 1942, dancer and choreographer Martha Graham approached the composer Aaron Copland and asked him to write a ballet with “an American theme.” What he created was Appalachian Spring, an uplifting composition that more than a few music critics have hailed as… Read more »
To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here With its geysers, bubbling hot springs, grizzly bears, and herds of bison, Yellowstone National Park has always been a special place. Yellowstone’s significance, however, has undergone a bit of a transformation in recent years. Geologists have begun to grasp that America’s most famous park sits atop a “hot spot,” a thin place… Read more »
