tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88722197258147453822012-01-22T18:07:30.038-06:00Ponderings in the Shade of the MulberryXarisnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3461100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-68634813258894052122012-01-06T11:27:00.000-06:002012-01-06T11:27:15.706-06:00

Legion (Mk 5:1-20)   How much would you be willing to put at risk in order to save someone’s life?  Would you be willing to risk losing property, wealth, reputation, health, or even your life? Would you be more apt to risk your life to save another’s life if you were single vs married, childless vs a parent, young vs old, poor vs wealthy? Do you weigh the risks involved in an intervention

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-87591646846061241622011-12-27T16:57:00.000-06:002011-12-27T16:57:14.061-06:00

Far to many Christians just don't read the Scriptures as often, as thoroughly, or with as much contemplation as they really should - in my opinion. I love the Scriptures. I can't seem to get enough of the Bible. I am continually awed by it. So, why isn't everyone, every Christian at least, similarly and sufficiently intrigued by Scripture to make it their priority study? One of the reasons is

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-80538101862825106822011-12-24T17:30:00.000-06:002011-12-24T17:30:33.722-06:00

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.  (Lk 1:26,27) Thus began what would be - within that year - the first Christmas story. For the people of Israel, God had been relatively silent for centuries. When he decided to speak again, he sent the angel

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-22815821972354617252011-12-13T10:35:00.002-06:002011-12-13T10:35:31.101-06:00

Everything changes. Some times for the better. Often not. For better or for worse, we are in the midst of another Christmas season. Many love it. Some hate it. But for you, when you hear the word ‘Christmas’, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Honestly, was it ‘Jesus’ or was it some ‘thing’? By the way, how did Christmas ever become an increasingly expanding ‘season’? Christmas music

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-71065413188083852842011-12-05T12:30:00.001-06:002011-12-14T11:08:36.995-06:00

My wife is Japanese. She was raised in Japan. Thus, her primary language is Japanese. Imagine if she and I tried to have a conversation, yet she spoke in and listened for Japanese while I spoke in and listened for English. No matter how precise our conversation, we would not be able to understand each other. We must first agree on which language we will communicate in. Since I don't speak

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-80453288791233838832011-12-02T10:35:00.001-06:002011-12-02T10:51:59.012-06:00

'Cowardly' (Mk 4:35-41) During the Vietnam war years it was not unusual for young men to be somewhat anxious about being drafted into military service. I was not an exception. I had no desire to fight and possibly die in a war I didn't even believe in. I had hopes, as a high school student, to continue on to college to become an aeronautical engineer. Yet a couple of things happened that

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-17583618514812923372011-11-29T00:46:00.000-06:002011-11-29T00:46:27.373-06:00

I wonder if ancient people contemplated how an acorn could become a tree? Didn’t they wrestle with how something so small, something that didn’t even look like a tree, could actually become a tree? Did they speculate about the type of ‘mechanism’ that must exist inside each acorn - the 'thing' that had the potential to make an acorn sprout and grow into a great tree? Today, of course, we have a

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-46929276749048341972011-11-26T13:43:00.000-06:002011-11-26T13:43:28.710-06:00

Sermon Notes on Mark 3:7-35 Some years ago while working in Asia, I regularly drove past a small village on my way to a refugee camp. The village was hardly noticeable - a mere blip of seconds along the road. It was the kind of place that would never gain a reputation as a tourist destination and was not even noted on my map. To be honest, I don't remember having actually ever seen the

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-5111836255995135862011-11-20T17:29:00.002-06:002011-11-20T17:29:24.324-06:00

If you could travel back in time to the first century AD, how might you explain how a 21st century iPhone works? Alternatively, if you were a first century person having a vision that took you into the 21st century, how would you describe the things you witnessed? For instance, some folks have suggested that in Revelation 9:17 John was describing a military helicopter being used to destroy

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-28851245735945744872011-11-18T10:32:00.000-06:002011-11-18T10:32:25.276-06:00

Illustration (borrowed from Pete Rollins): There once was an old monk who met with his disciples at a monastery every evening for prayer. At that same time a stray cat also determined to join they, distracting the disciples from their meditations. So, the old monk determined to arrive early each evening, chase down and capture the cat, and tie it to a tree just outside the monastery. He did

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-7887172385107835912011-11-05T09:50:00.000-05:002011-11-05T09:50:16.950-05:00

“Association” (Mk 2:14-20) Our minds immediately 'associate' things we perceive with other things we've formerly encountered. It is rather fascinating to discover the various ways that different people make these 'connections' in their heads. For instance, if I say the word, 'dog' - what immediately comes to your mind? Then what, etc. When I hear the word 'dog', I think 'house' - as in 'dog

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-16325630743362476882011-10-28T11:38:00.000-05:002011-10-28T11:38:14.829-05:00

Some years ago, while a grad student in a clinical psychology program, one of the professors pulled me aside into his office. He was concerned about something. He knew that I was a Christian pastor. He also knew that I was at the top of my class academically. Yet he said, 'you must be a terrible pastor. In fact, I think you will also be a horrible therapist.' I was, of course, left completely

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-49294791887082118442011-10-28T11:36:00.001-05:002011-10-28T11:38:57.396-05:00

My wife and I recently finished a historical-drama series about a 7th century Korean kingdom. The program was called, “The Great Queen Seondeok”. My favorite character in the series was an individual named Bidam. He was intelligent, humorous, and incredibly skilled in the martial arts. Unfortunately, Bidam had a dark side as well. He had been abandoned by his parents as a baby. His mother was

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-43673783245123537002011-03-04T11:59:00.002-06:002011-03-10T09:28:11.456-06:00

Everyone 'frames' life in terms that make the best sense of it all. Yet, as soon as we determine to see through a particular 'frame', we unwittingly limit our sight. Such is life? Well, not exactly. The gospel invites us into a different realm, a 'kingdom' way of seeing. Framing life, though nearly impossible to avoid, stunts our spiritual growth. It is, as Colbert calls it, 'truthiness', rather

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-14575326885777062302011-03-02T15:57:00.006-06:002011-03-07T13:53:16.976-06:00

For as yet the disciples did not know the Scripture, that Jesus must rise again from the dead. Life often presents us with things both bitter and sweet that, at first, may be difficult to accept. We simply can't believe our eyes. We hesitate to believe our ears. Curiously, the cognitive dissonance a person experiences when confronted with the unexpected, has led many to walk away from

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-38619559908697252532011-02-24T13:14:00.001-06:002011-02-25T11:12:29.895-06:00

The Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. (Jn 19:31) It was about 3 pm on Friday afternoon when Jesus cried out, It is finished, and dismissed his spirit (19:30). He had yielded up his few earthly possessions, the lure of popularity, the

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-33144302890208882842011-02-20T00:42:00.001-06:002011-02-20T10:04:50.059-06:00

It is finished. What Jesus came to accomplish - at least the part of the eternal plan that involved risk - was finally complete.  All that followed was/is, now and forever, a guarantee. The cross replaced the temple mercy seat as his throne. Two thieves replaced the two angels on either side of the mercy seat. Grace and truth replaced the Law, given by Moses, from under the mercy seat.

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-32492423017364666892011-02-18T09:23:00.000-06:002011-02-18T09:23:51.835-06:00

"How can I know that I'm walking with God?" That was the question asked last evening by a young woman I briefly chatted with at Starbucks. I chanced to notice that she was really wrestling with something as she read her Bible. I ventured to ask her if she was OK.  She surprisingly, cut to the chase, "I just need to know if I'm walking with God or have I deceived myself. Is my religious faith a

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-23228126447274033222011-02-14T10:42:00.000-06:002011-02-14T10:42:26.885-06:00

You would have no authority over me, unless it had been given you from above. (Jn 19:11) Jesus is not, in these words, denying that Pilate had God-given authority. Pilate did have authority to make good or bad decisions. God, as Daniel believed, sets up authority and deposes it (2:21). There isn't any authority except from God and those that presently exist are established by God (Rom 13:1). We

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-44487342455783496462011-02-14T08:48:00.001-06:002011-02-14T09:30:05.697-06:00

Does Christianity merely offer a naively over-simplified perspective of an otherwise complex world or does it wisely acknowledge life's complexity? Is it possible that the complexities of religion are a wrong-headed, foolishly over-simplified, other gospel, unwittingly denying reality? Jesus, in the Gospel According to John (18:36) refers to his kingdom as not of this world. On the other hand,

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-55516891513552130492011-02-10T09:50:00.002-06:002011-02-13T09:12:56.901-06:00

Jn 19:1-16 "Crucify him... We have no king but Caesar." "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." (Mt 5:6) Epic fail, as kids often say these days. When we read through this passage (Jn 19:1-15) there isn't any indication of anyone hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Those who were most outwardly declarative of their own righteousness revealed no evidence of it

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-78562159283241887422011-02-05T12:34:00.000-06:002011-02-05T12:34:53.128-06:00

Everyone who is of the truth, hears my voice. Jn 18:37 The first four beatitudes step us through a sequence that John seems to follow in chapter 18.  Those who recognize not only their need for God, but also want God to direct their steps, are the poor in spirit. Jesus chose the Father's will, the 'cup' presented before him. He didn't exalt his will over God's will for his earthly existence.

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-4353084366098313662011-01-27T11:59:00.003-06:002011-02-02T11:00:22.155-06:00

Who, me? No way. You've got the wrong guy!  Denial has been around as long a sentient beings have existed. Freud put the word on the psychological map just a century ago as a common defense mechanism.  We can outright lie, minimize, or - more insidiously - turn the blame around on someone else (projection). Denial can be a defense mechanism against those who are accusing us, or even against

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-7077192727408873112011-01-22T12:27:00.000-06:002011-01-22T12:27:39.215-06:00

Up till very recently, the favorite word in our house was whatever. I was just getting to accept that response to just about everything when a new term, a phrase, entered our home: worse day ever.  Twenty years ago this coming March I faced my worse day ever.  I stood at the Honolulu Airport holding the hands of my two sons, ages 10 and 8, as we said goodbye to their mother. Of all the

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-88757274044987638652011-01-18T16:19:00.001-06:002011-01-19T13:44:11.418-06:00

My thanks to Mike Morrell for recommending this ebook. It was timely, in that I've been recently discussing the idea of stages of faith.  Discipleship programs handicap young Christians if they are not introduced to the fact that they are entering a lifelong spiritual journey rather than graduating. This book underscores the maturation process through much tribulation.    The author, Carl

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-31169397710623053812011-01-14T19:41:00.000-06:002011-01-14T19:41:09.634-06:00

No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends..  (Jn 15:15) Last Sunday evening my son called around 9 pm to tell me that his plane had been canceled and that he was stranded in Atlanta - possibly, he was told - till Tuesday or even Wednesday. I told him that I'd come and get him. Even though a winter storm was coming, I

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-87776863379170516192011-01-14T19:17:00.000-06:002011-01-14T19:17:44.337-06:00

Once upon a very long time ago, a little mountain village became known as 'the most prayer-centered community in the world'.  It had served, for nearly a century, as the self-sustained home for the descendants of a one time, much persecuted, religious sect. The world would have never learned of this place of peace had not a persistent sociologist searched for it based solely on a rumor over

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-41060422550887428352011-01-13T09:17:00.001-06:002011-01-13T09:29:08.239-06:00

What, really, is prayer?  Here are a few of my favorite quotations regarding prayer. In many cases these individuals hold notions about prayer that don't resonate with me, yet these words do. "Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action."  M. Gandhi “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-48099407500059087922011-01-09T10:30:00.002-06:002011-01-09T11:28:59.063-06:00

You are my friends if you do what I command you. (Jn 15:14)   Initially, the above text doesn't resonate. Who would choose to be my friend if the requirement was 'to do whatever I said'?  Is that the definition of friendship Jesus is giving us here? Before we can actually answer this question, let's go back a verse or two for context. In verse 12 Jesus reiterates his earlier command, that we

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-63317206548661484262011-01-03T12:55:00.000-06:002011-01-03T12:55:10.878-06:00

This is one of those rabbit-duck discussions where we are so used to seeing the duck that it is almost impossible to see the rabbit, except for a glimpse here and there, just long enough to know that it is there. My long held notions of the parousia are like the duck. Yet, I know that the rabbit exists because it keeps showing itself, yet it is difficult for me to hold on to it. So, this is my

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-16842725837288959822011-01-02T11:10:00.000-06:002011-01-02T11:10:37.067-06:00

"Apart from Him nothing came into being." We can only assume that God knew what would happen if He created, yet He inexplicably went forward with His plan.Was there no other way to create sentient beings - whether spirit or human - that would not include a 'fall'? It seems that everything except God Himself is imperfect simply because it is a creation rather than God.Had God chosen never to

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-17564839189759673782010-12-30T13:37:00.001-06:002011-03-24T19:49:46.948-05:00

One of my fondest childhood memories includes two beautiful Mulberry trees my grandfather planted along his driveway in Massachusetts. As a child I loved eating the berries, competing with the birds who also seemed to jealously favor them. I quickly discovered that it was impossible to hide the fact that I had indulged this tasty fruit. These delicious berries imprinted their tell-tale stain on

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-50666355147041603782010-12-23T18:22:00.003-06:002011-01-07T17:08:25.197-06:00

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine-dresser. (Jn 15:1) As a child I was always intrigued by my grandfather's vineyard and wine-making. The first being far better in quality than the second, at least from a kid's perspective. As the Concord grapes ripened on his vines they attracted more and more of my attention and, occasionally, my grasping. Yum. So good. These vines were able to

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-9496801977718057882010-12-22T12:22:00.000-06:002010-12-22T12:22:48.842-06:00

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-79948185137748373592010-12-19T11:33:00.000-06:002010-12-19T11:33:30.788-06:00

I have spent most of my ministerial life studying and preaching from the writings of Paul and John's Revelation. It has only been in the last several years that I have given far more attention to the gospels - which, honestly, have changed my life.  As a pastor I suppose I was more inclined to research the 'how to' advice of Paul for the church. There are a multitude of issues within the church

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-10921128205092833542010-12-15T23:43:00.001-06:002010-12-19T01:40:06.222-06:00

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.  (Jn 14:16, 17) I love coffee. That isn't a secret. What has been a secret is that I had never brewed a cup of coffee myself until just a

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-7374779947731591732010-12-10T11:12:00.000-06:002010-12-10T11:12:15.940-06:00

Yesterday I briefly visited with a high school student who tutors 7th graders in pre-algebra. I was fascinated by her grasp of the process. Good arithmetic textbooks introduce elementary students to the fundamental of algebra. If though, algebraic expressions were presented to a 5th grader, he would probably not comprehend them.  Yet, along the way he is, hopefully learning algebra without

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-83991524814805626162010-12-06T13:00:00.009-06:002010-12-12T11:18:19.648-06:00

In my Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also (Jn 14:2,3) I asked an old friend if he would be returning home for Christmas. His response was a bit snarky. "Home? What the heck is that? The

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-50315847776844908532010-11-30T13:01:00.000-06:002010-11-30T13:01:34.658-06:00

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. by this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (Jn 13:34, 35) John wrote that Jesus called this a new commandment. As many have pointed out over the centuries since this was penned, this doesn't - at first blush - appear to be a new

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-47445962296693303352010-11-30T12:05:00.000-06:002010-11-30T12:05:44.195-06:00

Many years ago I recall a story of a twenty-something young man who had driven his vehicle at high speed into a crowded outdoor cafe killing half a dozen people including one child. By standers angrily pulled this driver out of his car and beat him, they thought, to death. Yet he survived, was arrested, and eventually convicted and confined to a prison for life. We can only imagine the degree of

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-89212072038575266362010-11-30T09:48:00.000-06:002010-11-30T10:45:19.177-06:00

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (Jn 13:34, 35) As the apostle John tells this story, he chose to define love out of the context not only in which Jesus was betrayed by one of his twelve, but sandwiched in on the other end by

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-86781013080756749772010-11-28T13:04:00.000-06:002010-11-28T13:04:23.177-06:00

Some times in our attempts to point to the cross, we unwittingly position ourselves at cross points with Jesus. In other words, instead of walking parallel to the Lord, we are squee-squaw to Him.  There has been much discussion - even books - suggesting, often passionately, that religion and spirituality are not synonymous.  Is it possible to be religious, yet spiritual?  Is spirituality

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-1137159032253997172010-11-27T11:47:00.000-06:002010-11-27T11:47:58.510-06:00

Factitious - not meant to be true, not genuine, exaggerated, hyperbole. Did Jesus ever exaggerate, use hyperbole, intentionally state something factitiously? Some folks have serious issues with giving an affirmative answer to that question. They believe that Jesus, being God in the flesh, couldn't ever say anything but the absolute truth. There weren't any winks of the eye that could have been

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-4903946580876516922010-11-24T20:30:00.001-06:002010-11-24T21:15:54.637-06:00

My wife, son, and I just finished a twenty hour (one way) road trip from Franklin TN to Canterbury NH and back. We drove north to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday and took advantage of the gathering to enjoy an early Thanksgiving meal together.  In recent years we've only gathered together at the funeral of a relative.  This was pleasantly different, if, of course, one does not consider the

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-63502939544492055202010-11-24T10:13:00.002-06:002010-11-27T00:20:03.548-06:00

If there is any name that acts as a metonymy for betrayal then it is likely to be none other than that of Judas. Peter Rollins, The Fidelity of Betrayal. p. 13 Have you ever been rejected or even betrayed by someone you loved?  Did a trusted business partner steal from you?   Did a parent betray your trust by abusing you?   Did a close friend lie to you or about you?   While we expect to

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-19598492842873195162010-11-12T23:18:00.002-06:002010-11-16T09:48:33.555-06:00

John 14, in the English translations, renders two very different Greek words as "knowing". The first speaks of knowing in the objective sense (ginosko) - having actual empirical evidence as the basis for knowing. For instance, later as an adult, I learned the my dad went to college and then worked on a graduate degree in education. I saw the results of an IQ test he took. I even read a transcript

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-89141092361795162342010-11-12T15:49:00.000-06:002010-11-12T15:49:21.617-06:00

What is grace? A pleasing characteristic and/or an undeserved favor. We are blessed every day by beauties that nearly take our breath away. They speak into life through words we hear, through things we see, and even within 'stuff' we may taste, touch, or smell. We are graced perceptually, yet our appreciation of these physically sensed graces varies. There is a subjective element involved.

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-26455582158856481142010-11-06T13:28:00.002-05:002010-11-16T11:16:24.125-06:00

Every good teacher knows that instruction must begin where her students are, not where the teacher is. This is not so profound a notion, is it?  If the teacher, thrilled with her knowledge and competence with integral calculus begins where she is with her third grade students, absolutely nothing will be learned by them.  They are not ready, and won't be for many years.  She meets them where they

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-36394692492907377902010-11-03T16:14:00.000-05:002010-11-03T16:14:09.382-05:00

In Johns gospel, chapter 12 shifts the readers attention into the final week. On Sunday, those who had witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus, along with many Jews from Jerusalem, gathered around Jesus as he made his way into the city. Josephus reports that up to a quarter million animals were probably being herded into Jerusalem on that very day - sheep led to the slaughter - Jesus, the lamb of

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-91761939977135753202010-11-03T14:36:00.001-05:002010-11-16T11:18:04.886-06:00

In a long forgotten place, lost forever in time, there once live a nearly perfect King who reigned over a fabulously happy people. I say 'nearly perfect' because there was only one thing the king lacked. He could not produce an heir.  As the king grew older he persistently searched for the 'one' to whom he could eventually deliver his kingdom. How, though, would he know who was the right person?

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-88490968975056614922010-10-26T10:37:00.002-05:002010-11-01T12:16:40.090-05:00

`..that they may be one, even as we are.  Jn 17:11 The options initially, maybe always, were between partaking from the highly recommended tree of life or from the clearly forbidden, death promising tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Immediately the contrasts are made obvious: life or death, to listen or to disregard, to exist as one with God or to wrestle in dualism. The tree of life

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-50409400228503341392010-10-20T20:33:00.001-05:002010-10-23T20:58:28.849-05:00

Just because a large majority of people have believed something to be true for a long time, doesn't make it truth. In Jesus' sermon on the mount there is one statement that is nearly always pulled from the context of the whole sermon, and used to substantiate an untruth. The text in question is Mt 5:17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-16850085362318359962010-10-15T14:40:00.000-05:002010-10-15T14:40:56.872-05:00

Today is the day. Every October 15 bloggers around the world speak to the same issue. This year the issue is: Water.  If you don't know much about the issue, click on this link:  http://networkedblogs.com/9bJ46 Can you imagine not having clean water to drink? How would you act to change your circumstances?

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-79867663961674807412010-10-10T10:03:00.000-05:002010-10-10T10:03:16.004-05:00

Several of my Anglican colleagues have wonderfully deepened both my understanding and appreciation for the Eucharist. To be honest, in my religious tradition up to now, the Eucharist just didn't have much meaning. It was a nuisance add-on to the religious service that I kind of 'did' without really entering into it's meaning.  I assumed it to be a holdover from more form-oriented religion rather

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-7384889099747965842010-10-07T18:04:00.000-05:002010-10-07T18:04:00.968-05:00

At what point in his life, as a Jew of course, was Jesus decidedly 'Christian'? Strange question, right? Was his life always a 'Christian' life? Could he have only become a 'Christian' after being anointed, at his baptism, as the 'Christ'? Wasn't Jesus always, for all intents and purposes, a 'Christian' in essence, a model for what we are to be as Christians? If so, why was he seemingly so

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-72336101726463160042010-10-04T21:11:00.000-05:002010-10-04T21:11:02.375-05:00

As we near the November mid-term elections political maneuverings are exponentially intensifying. Much has been invested and thus much is at risk for being lost. In some races more money has been committed out of personal piggy banks than ever before.  We'll see if political office can be purchased legally.  For a large percentage of Americans, on both sides of the aisle, the very future of our

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-54582711325280756712010-09-29T13:07:00.000-05:002010-09-29T13:07:13.125-05:00

And a youth said, "Speak to us of Friendship." Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace. When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay." And when he is silent

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-46858697829936353732010-09-26T12:26:00.000-05:002010-09-26T12:26:41.286-05:00

Not really. I just love this old song. It would be more accurate, for me at least, to say "I can see more clearly now".  I appreciated Richard Rohr's comments in his new book, The Naked Now, in which he wrote: We cannot see what we are never told to look for; we cannot do what is never offered as do-able. (p. 107) One of the important functions of adults, teachers, leaders, and pastors is to

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-74971094796192114572010-09-23T23:53:00.001-05:002010-09-23T23:55:11.727-05:00

A common synonym for the word 'intrigue' is 'conspiracy'.  Dallas Willard, some years ago, wrote a book called the Divine Conspiracy. It influenced the thinking of a whole generation of folks currently labeled as emergent Christians.  God is up to something, something good, something exceedingly abundantly above all that we can even imagine. He acts with design, purpose, repeatedly taking us by

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-63689280407272595592010-09-23T16:42:00.002-05:002010-09-29T15:19:56.507-05:00

It was winter. Hanukkah. Jesus was walking in the Temple. A group of Jews descended upon him, crowding him with a question. Tell us plainly. Are you the Messiah? I think I would have been one of them. I frequently find myself asking God why the notions of scripture couldn't have been stated more clearly, more plainly.  The parables and metaphors are nice, even clever - but when a student of the

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-9139254069903004642010-09-23T14:46:00.000-05:002010-09-23T14:46:14.533-05:00

In Brian McLaren's latest book, A New Kind of Christianity, the second of ten questions being openly wrestled with today is: How Should the Bible be Understood? (ch. 7).  Anyone really interested in truth would do well to take the time to carefully think through this issue. It doesn't take a biblical scholar to know that the Bible has often been more than sadly misused over the centuries. Some

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-47432862801942106862010-09-22T14:57:00.000-05:002010-09-22T14:57:06.224-05:00

I recently came across this quotation from Blaise Pascal: Without Jesus Christ man must be in vice and misery; with Jesus Christ man is free from vice and misery; in Him is all our virtue and all our happiness. Apart from Him there is but vice, misery, darkness, death, despair. I immediately disagreed. It is simply an arrogant, Christianity-centric, notion. An untruth. One doesn't have to

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-85877626394851323022010-09-18T13:26:00.000-05:002010-09-18T13:26:52.069-05:00

A friend of mine has long wrestled with spirituality. He was raised in a denomination that peddled the notion that it was the embodiment of truth. Having located truth in rules and behaviors rather than in Jesus - the only Truth - this church eventually caused my friend and many others to jettison the proverbial baby with the bathwater.  His life has not been great. He married a high-maintenance

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-70766940880186681782010-09-16T12:10:00.002-05:002010-09-18T13:03:23.759-05:00

John 10:10 I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. When we come into life, that is - spiritual life, God accepts us right where we are, just as we are. What changes is our recognition that the kingdom has always been within and around us and we chose to let it work through us. Well, it begins its work. We are newly birthed infants in Christ, not delivered instantly and fully

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-16624786866991476132010-09-15T18:00:00.001-05:002010-09-18T13:02:33.823-05:00

John 10:10   I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I'm sure you have heard people apply this text to a number of ways. For some, the American dream is the abundant life. You know the drill - own your own home, with the white picket fence, 2 1/2 kids, affluence, education, and the freedom to be whatever you want to be. That merely describes an abundance of 'things'. Long

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-48949150123843441192010-09-14T06:00:00.002-05:002010-09-18T13:00:09.560-05:00

John 10:10 I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. The context assumes several notions. First, we all begin life 'dead'. In other words, we are 'dead men walking'. Second, when we respond to the love of Christ, we receive life - life eternal abides within us. Third, Jesus wants us to have more. He wants us to have life exceeding abundantly, above all that we can even imagine. 

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-47124831322199427802010-09-10T23:15:00.001-05:002010-09-22T15:24:03.835-05:00

No, that wasn't a misprint.  We often hear folks refer to America as a Christian nation, yet it doesn't take long to realize that there is a world of difference between 21st century Christianity (the religion) and an actual Christian. If you have had a chance to read Frank Viola and George Barna's book, Pagan Christianity?, you will almost immediately conclude that the preponderance of 'stuff'

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-25144306274611896732010-09-04T09:46:00.000-05:002010-09-04T09:46:42.010-05:00

Is it possible for the church to actually be the church - one body? Is it reasonable to expect unity in diversity? Isn't our 21st century political culture far too polarized to expect Christian defection? Isn't worldview hardwired, genetically predisposed? Can we reasonably expect folks who are passionately wedded to a particular paradigm to actually listen to another perspective or would they

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-59074542402421455272010-09-03T17:05:00.000-05:002010-09-03T17:05:17.571-05:00

To what or to whom is must be a pastor's primary allegiance? Is it to his ordaining institution? Or, is ordination a confirmation of a pastor's clarity of allegiance to God whether or not this allegiance leads him (or her) up against some cherish traditions? Is it to his congregation? Or, is ordination the congregations' assurance that their pastor will faithfully bring them words wrestled out 

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-27369749610862212252010-09-01T15:51:00.001-05:002010-09-01T15:55:55.535-05:00

John wrote his gospel not only to help us comprehend the Lord he loved and served, but also to show us how to have our hearts fully apprehended by Him. This has been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you man have life. (Jn 20:21) Many reject Christ apprehensively without having taken sufficient time to more fully comprehend who he was.

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-82368331144833433412010-08-29T17:38:00.002-05:002010-08-29T17:41:57.763-05:00

I once wondered what it would be like to have been born blind (Jn 9:1), then realized I had been. But Jesus healed me and now I see the Light. When something bad happens to another do you think, 'I wonder what he did to deserve that' (Jn 9:2) or 'I hope he knows my Lord'?  When you see someone suffering, do you assume 'cause and effect' (Jn 9:3) or do you see an invitation to be the

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-92015393894104384172010-08-28T13:15:00.001-05:002010-08-30T19:33:34.186-05:00

It has been said the one of the most difficult texts in the NT to translate is Jesus' response in John 8:25. The crowd asked him, 'Who are you?" His answer, as I typically understand it, is "well, that's what I've been trying to tell you right along!" The problem was that they didn't like his answer. Two millennia later, most of us don't like his answer either. Jesus was trying to tell them

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-89025731734907408252010-08-25T08:12:00.001-05:002010-08-25T08:28:53.807-05:00

Becky Garrison's new book, Jesus Died for This? - a satirist's search for the risen Jesus, has just been released by Zondervan Publishers.  The author, with no little degree of humor, invites the reader to take a fresh look at Jesus and then at what we have come to call Christianity and ask ourselves if what we are is really anything approximating what Jesus had in mind. Sadly, it seems, what we

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-23093411700201030892010-08-22T11:36:00.001-05:002010-08-22T11:50:47.822-05:00

2 Peter 3:18 "Beloved..grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Our modernist legacy has sufficiently installed word censors into our reading habits.  I confess that I am guilty as charged.  Until recently each time I've read the above verse I've only seen the word knowledge and don't ever remember reading the word grace. Don't we just have grace through faith?

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-31600869300936950352010-08-22T06:00:00.001-05:002010-08-22T06:00:00.806-05:00

"Do you remember when..."  So began a lengthy conversation reminiscing various - and often embarrassing - events at a school where I once taught. My friend, a former student, asked do you remember when you were accused of an affair? It was a painful incident, that I had thoroughly, till now, shelved deep into the darker recesses of my mind.  He and I were walking up to the school chapel late

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-73730779139055680822010-08-20T10:55:00.000-05:002010-08-20T10:55:43.268-05:00

Unless one lives under a rock, it is clear that the majority of Americans don't think a mosque should be built at ground zero in NYC. The protests usually rest their argument on the inappropriateness of a Muslim worship center right where the events of 9/11 took place at the hands of Muslim terrorists. This is, even nearly a decade later, a place of mourning. It also remains a place where many

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-65473462989635443432010-08-18T10:19:00.000-05:002010-08-18T10:19:24.978-05:00

Stating the profoundly obvious, though inanely resisted, a Harvard researcher reminded us some time ago that teaching abstinence actually works to lower the HIV infection rate in some societies. If one doesn't 'do' it, one doesn't 'get' it. There is, of course, more to this recent Nashville Baptist Press story.  The government has often resisted abstinence education fearing it promotes a

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-39416818140939819952010-08-16T14:21:00.000-05:002010-08-16T14:21:20.090-05:00

We all know the oft spoken adage, "If you've got it, flaunt it."  Even the brothers of Jesus seemed to operate out of that notion when they counseled Him to immediately go to Jerusalem to make public his miracle working skills. Some think that his siblings, like some of his disciples, envisioned gaining positions of influence and power, simply by clinging to His up and ascending coattails. In

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-9343609798697821792010-08-15T23:16:00.002-05:002010-08-15T23:50:35.142-05:00

In David Kinnamans recent publication, UnChristian, he enumerates a variety of characterizations made of Christians by those who are non-Christian. There weren't any bombshell surprises. It included the usual issues people have with Christians, that they - we - are aggravatingly hypocritical, unwittingly inauthentic, inappropriately political, and incessantly judgmental.  Among my unchurched

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-7443467291919497862010-08-12T21:20:00.000-05:002010-08-12T21:20:58.768-05:00

Should the ordination vows of a pastor or priest always require loyalty to the organization over faithfulness to God? In denomination after denomination that seems to be the consistent expectation. All this places the more progressive cleric trapped between the rosary and the relic, if not tightly squeezed between the board and the bored.  But, there is one Catholic priest who has spent most of

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-42899383692812258502010-08-10T16:03:00.000-05:002010-08-10T16:03:45.775-05:00

If you have any concern for our homeless neighbors - i.e. church is not merely a 'bubble' club for you - then you have probably followed the way that Nashville is not a homeless-friendly city. In fact, currently Nashville is running in first place for the US NIMBY award. NIMBY stands for 'Not In My Back Yard'. Competitors for first place include Grand Junction CO, New York City, Washington DC,

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-32053569423486887592010-08-09T18:54:00.000-05:002010-08-09T18:54:03.451-05:00

There are several phrases frequently heard in Christian circles that often confuse the uninitiated. The first is, saved by faith alone. The second is, the unity of the faith. Both are, when taken seriously, actually quite progressive notions. Unfortunately, both have also been unwittingly redefined in the milieu of 21st century Christianity.  For example, saved by faith alone is most often

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-46645109424106847002010-08-08T06:00:00.003-05:002010-08-08T22:29:01.239-05:00

Science tells us that a 5 month old fetus has developed the sense of hearing adequately to discern the sound of the mother's voice from all the other sounds. Sight is another issue, as one might imagine, since there isn't any light in the matrix of the mother's womb. After birth it takes 8-12 months for vision to mature. At birth, the infant can only focus 6-8 inches. Interestingly, that is about

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-27817299214972038102010-08-06T18:33:00.000-05:002010-08-06T18:33:21.584-05:00

As written earlier, I had a frightening experience after my first year of college when confronted by a man with a knife. I'm thankful that God took control of that circumstance, preserving my life. Unfortunately, even though I heard God's voice clearly and witnessed first hand his intervention, I didn't surrender my life to Him as I had promised Him. I ignored God for the next three years. But

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-51333806460838862112010-08-06T15:46:00.001-05:002010-08-06T17:13:28.627-05:00

Spinning the news is, and has always been, part and parcel of human society. Many spins are propagated on the web as truths and mindlessly passed from person to person - most of the time without anyone stopping to ask if the report they heard was actually factual. Report and we will report it, seems to be our persistent human inclination. Frustratingly, this penchant has also been a noticeable

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-82885063096252114522010-08-04T15:19:00.001-05:002010-08-04T15:22:22.380-05:00

As we listen to the various candidates running for office in the State of Tennessee, and particularly as we go to the voting booth, as law abiding American citizens we should be clear on what the law actually says. Here are some quotes from the US and Tennessee Constitutions. Listen carefully to the beliefs and statements of each candidate as they speak about religion and legal rights and weigh

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-32624892825210979692010-08-02T22:07:00.000-05:002010-08-02T22:07:53.976-05:00

Anne Rice, well known author of the 'Vampire Chronicles" and for her rather public 1998 return to Catholicism, recently announced on Facebook that she was quitting Christianity. What does that actually mean, though?  Well, in her own words, “My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn't understand, to an optimistic believer in a

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-60768243651982399592010-08-02T15:28:00.000-05:002010-08-02T15:28:06.703-05:00

There has been much debate over the immigration issue in our country - including here in Tennessee. There clearly are valid points being made on all sides of this issue with the Arizona law has become the most recent lightning rod on the topic.  What, though, should the Christian think about all this? First, we are counseled in Scripture to understand and to be supportive, even obedient to the

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-3687322939509547772010-08-01T23:21:00.000-05:002010-08-01T23:21:44.081-05:00

Anne Howard is the executive director of the Beatitudes Society. She recently penned a delightfully engaging and wonderfully thought-provoking piece for the website called Patheos. I, of course, hope you will follow the link back and read her entire article and really give it some meditative time. She wrote: "I see the image of the public square, that place beyond our private lives and separate

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-22962432835242452732010-07-30T15:11:00.002-05:002010-07-30T15:52:16.576-05:00

Yes. Christians should vote. Though we are citizens of the heavenly kingdom, as long as we live in these mortal bodies we must accept dual citizenship. We have a responsibility to influence the affairs of this world for the betterment of all who live here today and for those who follow us. Vote we must - if given the chance. Here in Tennessee the pre-voting for the primary is well underway with a

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-42751646933365598282010-07-29T14:50:00.002-05:002010-07-29T14:52:08.281-05:00

Have you ever been homeless?  Do you personally know any homeless folks by name? Do you regularly support - either financially or otherwise - one of the many compassion-filled, homeless assistance organizations operating in and around Nashville? Do you actively support efforts to make Nashville a model of compassionate care for homeless people? Is your Christianity measured more by how much you

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-39716544357018540552010-07-27T15:59:00.001-05:002010-07-27T16:06:45.406-05:00

Churches have served coffee seemingly forever. These days it's in vogue for a church to have more than a stale, over-heated brew of Maxwell House coffee (named after what was once the largest and most famous hotel in Nashville) sitting on the table. Many churches currently sport exotic coffee bars, even a Starbucks kiosk franchise. Coffee and church clearly go together like Ben and Franklin. It

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-71258404842196631542010-07-26T17:25:00.003-05:002010-07-27T00:03:38.189-05:00

During the summer break between my first and second year of college I worked as a hemodialysis therapist in Boston. At the time, being the low man on the proverbial totem pole, I was assigned to the graveyard shift - 11 pm to 7 am. Living in Boston without a car was actually saner than trying to find parking for a car. The trolley system was sufficient for all my travel needs. I only had to

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-34709249541315323052010-07-25T14:15:00.000-05:002010-07-25T14:15:50.071-05:00

When you think of Nashville, what genre of music first comes to mind? Country Music, right? Honestly, though, there's a lot more to the music scene in Nashville than Johnny & friends. Nashville has also become the home of contemporary Christian (CCM) music as well. But, how good is it, really? Are you looking for music that resonates with the, your, postmodern Christian heart? Needing music that

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-38433311334258552912010-07-22T16:01:00.001-05:002010-07-22T16:01:59.058-05:00

When most people think of church, a picture of a distinct place, often an unusual looking edifice, to which Christians go each weekend to worship God, comes to mind. Within these buildings, found all around Nashville - the buckle of the Bible Belt, is a rather comfortably predictable venue separate from and uninterrupted by life-as-usual. Everyone is on their best behavior, even the normally

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-74059682454852241502010-07-22T00:36:00.001-05:002010-07-22T01:08:51.374-05:00

ACT Nashville lives up to its name. It is very ACTive in Nashville. Unlike many organizations that are content to exist merely as a club for a few, ACT Nashville is an energized, proselyting organization. They want every American to know what they believe and to act on that belief - particularly when it comes to Muslims. So, what is it that they actually believe? Here is a quote from their

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-61812225372738384802010-07-20T15:00:00.003-05:002010-07-20T15:17:06.274-05:00

After a tedious and rather lengthy process, the Islamic Center of Nashville has a new Imam. His name is Mohammed Ahmed. He is an Islamic Scholar from Cairo Egypt who came to the US a decade ago to study at the Center for Muslim - Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.   From all reports, he is a generous, hard-working, open-minded young adult - all of which will serve him well as he

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-68444357283034157002010-07-19T01:09:00.004-05:002010-07-19T10:32:08.581-05:00

The good Lord has blessed Nashville with an abundance of churches that present in every possible shape, size, and theological flavor.  If anyone complained that their search for a church that 'fit' them couldn't be found in Davidson County, few folks would be convinced. Yet, if the 'seeker' bemoaned that there was a peculiar and unsettling redundancy among all these churches - other than the

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-72196083041212609682010-07-17T13:07:00.000-05:002010-07-17T13:07:50.289-05:00

We often throw the words liberal and conservative around, pejoratively pigeon-holing one another as we set up our straw man for attack. Yet, when it comes to Christianity in particular, the adjective - liberal - really doesn't have the same connotation as in its vernacular usage. Research the word liberal and you find it defined as tolerant of others opinions, not given to literal

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8872219725814745382.post-50530563235755122682010-07-17T00:48:00.000-05:002010-07-17T00:48:34.838-05:00

I couldn't remember a thing. Ten hours had disappeared from my memory. The last thing I could recall was that I had left my hotel room in Bangkok and went out, alone, to get dinner at one of my favorite restaurants. I don't know whether or not I actually got there. I don't remember eating. It was early in the morning. Someone was banging on the door yelling for me to get out. I got up only to

Xarisnoreply@blogger.com0