Quadrilateral: Tradition (Part 2)

II) TRADITION: Whenever I hear the word “tradition,” I naturally think of “Fiddler on the Roof.” The overture of that musical focuses on the importance of tradition in the Jewish community. The musical centers on the struggles of one Jewish man named Tevye. Three of his daughters choose marriage partners… Continue reading

Quadrilateral: Scripture (Part 1)

[In the Sunday school class I teach, we recently discussed the Wesleyan Quadrilateral as a model for building one’s theology. In our post-modern world, individual Christians need a theology that is appropriate as we attempt to live in ways that are faithful to the good news of Jesus Christ as… Continue reading

Thank You, and I Love you

At some point during this pandemic my wife and I became aware of people who had contracted the Coronavirus and were in hospitals unable to have loved ones near them because of hospital policy. Some of these people, on ventilators and sicker than they had ever been in their lives,… Continue reading

Cracks and Questions

Questions and cracks are two ways God can use to deepen our faith, encourage our growth, and give us great joy. Those who dread such a route very often have a religion based on fear. If they question or doubt, they are afraid they will go to hell or face some terrible punishment. But once our minds have expanded by asking a question or harboring a doubt, they can never return to their original size. Continue reading

A Privation of Good

Careless seems the great Avenger; history’s pages but recordOne death-grapple in the darkness ‘twixt old systems and the Word;Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,—Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. (James Russell Lowell)… Continue reading

QAnon, Trump, and Norway

Just when I thought Trump couldn’t get any worse, he demonstrated there is no limit to his evil machinations. On August 19, 2020, he added another group to his base of racists, misogynists, homophobes, Islamophobes, the lunatic fringe of Christianity, spineless politicians who would sacrifice our democracy in order to… Continue reading

Gettysburg, Lincoln, and Science

Throughout the Democratic National Convention, I was reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address which ended with “that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth.” I could only imagine what Lincoln would think of how Trump has perverted the party Lincoln founded…. Continue reading