A Fresh Perspective

From the earliest time I can remember I was in the church house on Sundays. It did not always go well for me on Sundays. I can vaguely remember one Sunday when my parents and my best friend’s parents let us sit together during Sunday worship by ourselves. We decided to take the foil wrapper of a piece of chewing gum and make a little paper football. We had a whole side pew to ourselves so Keith went to one side and I to the other. We made goal posts with our hands and thumbs and kicked field goals. One of my kicks deviated from its intended path and landed inside a curl of the lady sitting in the pew directly in front of us. She was hard of hearing so we didn’t worry too much, but my buddy got tickled and I got tickled. Well, that was the last time we got to sit together for a while. For the next several weeks we were back at the side of our parents.   I can also distinctly remember as a kid sitting in worship as the preacher droned on and on thinking what a terrible way to ma...

John Pierce, the executive editor of Baptist Today , shared a story his friend told him about a coworker who was enjoying a visit from her sister and her two young nieces. They began running and screaming more so than usual so their mother went into the guestroom to check on them. The excited little girls shouted that a bug was after them and they were afraid of being bitten. The false alarm was over a small moth, floating lazily around the room. Their mom assured them, “Moths don’t bite people, they only eat clothes.” The next morning the girls were found sleeping peacefully in their bed – and naked. Their clothes were piled together away in the corner.  Our fears obviously affect our attitudes and actions. And this is true of all of us, not just little kids. Isn’t it obvious today how much our fears shape our attitudes and actions? Fear is guiding a lot of political speech today and bringing out the worst in people. When the angel first appears to Mary the angel sa...

It seems like every day we listen to the news we learn about some act of violence somewhere. It may be the act of a terrorist group on the international scene or it may be some crazy kid with a gun on a college campus – an endless cycle of shootings and violent reactions. In our own network of people connections how often do we encounter someone who is angry with us or someone who for whatever reason no longer wants to be in a friendly relationship with us? Is peace possible in such a world? Is peace possible in our families, in our schools, in our places of employment, among churches and diverse religious communities, between races and groups that have different political and social agendas, among those with different educational attainment and economic status. Can we make a way for peace? Can we come together? This second Sunday of Advent highlights the longing and need for peace. Our Scripture text today has been traditionally called the Benedictus. It is Zechariah’s canticle o...

What did Jesus mean when he said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not from/of this world” and how does this relate to the way Christians love their country? Certainly Jesus did not mean that God’s kingdom is heavenly while the kingdom represented by Pilate is earthly. I suppose one could try to make a case for that interpretation based on readings in John’s Gospel, but it certainly would stand in opposition to its meaning in the Synoptics. The kingdom envisioned in the model prayer is about God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Also, Jesus is certainly not suggesting that Pilate’s kingdom is a political kingdom while God’s kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. In fact, that is an impossible distinction to make because all governments, businesses, economic systems, politics, and institutions of all types express some kind of spirituality. In some cases (perhaps many) the spirituality exhibited may be a demonic kind of spirituality that is oppressive and destructive, but it is a...