To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Powerful leaders tend to admire other powerful leaders. In an interview with the New Yorker a few years ago, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook (now known as Meta), and one of the richest men in the world, acknowledged his fascination with one of history’s most famous dictators. The Silicon… Read more »
“I’m tired of running this damn church.” If you’re a pastor who desperately wants to get the attention of your elders, try using a turn of phrase they aren’t expecting. That’s what Eugene Peterson did about 10 years into his efforts to launch a new congregation in suburban Baltimore. They had survived their first few difficult years. Pastor and people had worked… Read more »
As a native of the Hoosier capitol, I grew up loving the Indianapolis “500.” I have vivid memories of attending my first race in 1967. I sat in the first turn with my father and two brothers. Even though the race was halted after 18 laps because of a drenching rain that required a quarter million people to come back… Read more »
Samson is one of those Bible personalities who has been able to accomplish the near-impossible: make Sunday School interesting for elementary school-age boys. He was absurdly strong. His exploits were gloriously public. He singlehandedly leveled the playing field between the Israelites and their unfriendly next-door neighbors, the Philistines. But Samson’s story, which covers four chapters of the book of Judges (13-16),… Read more »
What’s the most pathetic / head-scratching / cringe-worthy verse in the Bible? There are numerous candidates. But one of the finalists has to be Exodus 32:24, where Aaron, Israel’s first high priest, abandons all leadership responsibility and accountability before his brother Moses. Moses has been up on Mt. Sinai for 40 days – receiving, among other things, the Ten Commandments. … Read more »
