To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Throughout the month of August, we’re looking at Ecclesiastes, that strange and seemingly “modern” Old Testament book that depicts what happens when humanity searches for ultimate meaning apart from God. As 2012 drew to a close, the Associated Press had already chosen its Story of the Year: the re-election of Barack Obama. Then on… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. The pre-dawn earthquake that struck along the border of Turkey and Syria yesterday was one of the most powerful shakings those countries have ever experienced. There are fewer than 20 quakes a year anywhere on the planet that exceed a magnitude of 7.0. This one measured 7.8, meaning it was sufficiently fierce to… Read more »
To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. In AD 165, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, a virus brought the Roman Empire to its knees. A deadly epidemic swept across the Mediterranean world. Historians guess that it was smallpox, making its first incursion into a population that had no immunity. Whole cities and provinces were abandoned and fell into ruin. … Read more »
Year ago I heard a presentation called “What Not to Say at a Funeral.” In the presence of someone else’s grief and pain, so often we feel compelled to say something – anything – that will help make sense of the mystery of this loss. We want to make the moment easier. But the following statements are almost guaranteed to… Read more »
Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth. In the cartoon world of The Simpsons, Bart Simpson lives next door to the church-going, Bible-toting Flanders family. One day the two Flanders boys hop out of their car following a… Read more »
Throughout Lent, we’re exploring the parables of Jesus – the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God’s rule on earth. Author Joyce Landorf remembers a time she was passing through a crowded airport. She paused at a gift shop to purchase a couple of greeting cards. When the clerk turned to… Read more »
James Cameron’s movie version of the sinking the Titanic is exceptional in that it focuses on a part of the Titanic story that every previous film had ignored: the reality of the hundreds of passengers who were still alive and screaming for help in the freezing waters of the Atlantic long after the ship had disappeared. The raw numbers of… Read more »
