It’s Not About the Food

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What do the birth of a baby, a birthday, a first date, a wedding, an anniversary and a funeral all have in common? I mean besides people. Food. Every one of those moments demands that somebody bring over a dish, decorate a cake, set a table, bake a casserole or throw a full-on, no-expense-spared, heartburn-inducing feast. We celebrate all of our significant life transitions, not to mention our major and minor holidays, by eating together. But then, that’s the way it’s always been. In Mark’s gospel, the word bread appears 18 times. The verb for eating shows up 25 times. And Mark is … Read more…

The Test

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Do you remember what it was like to be in Jr. High? That’ll be easy for some because you’re there now. (Hang in there — it gets lots better.) Or you may have Jr. High kids at home or teach them in school, so it’s not a big stretch for you, either.  Some of us, though, struggle to remember what it was like to be 50.  So let me refresh your memory. When you are in Jr. High, you take the same test every day.  The Test does not measure your mastery of any particular subject and you don’t get a … Read more…

Rules or Robots

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Have you ever heard someone, maybe a preacher or a parent, say something like, “The Bible is not a rule book; it’s a love letter from God,”?  Maybe you said it yourself.  And, in a sense, the preacher or parent or you were right.  It’s not a list of rules like you see posted on the gates of a community pool or at the entrance to one of those drive through animal parks.  The Bible is not even like the Student Handbook they give you at the beginning of every semester at school.  But let’s be honest – it has … Read more…

It Was My Sin That Held Him There

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Author Carson McCullers was born in Columbus, Georgia, and lived a terribly unhappy childhood.  When she graduated from high school at 17, she left.  Years later, when she was preparing for a rare visit, her cousin asked why she was going back to a place which caused her so much pain.  McCullers answered, “I must occasionally go home to renew my sense of horror.” Communion, the Lord’s Supper, Eucharist – whichever term you prefer — is a Christian’s way of going back.  And we do it for the same reason McCullers did; we need to renew our sense of horror.  We … Read more…

I Started Going To The Gym . . . Again

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I start going to the gym again once every four years or so.  Which is dumb because starting is always the hardest part. First, you have to muster the courage to walk through the steamy doors into a world where you clearly do not belong.  In between sets of bench pressing a million pounds, the regulars look at you with accusing eyes, then turn their sculpted backs and whisper to each other. I bet they say things like, “See that guy? Looks like he hasn’t seen the inside of a gym in four years or so.” Second, it hurts. I mean physically.  After … Read more…

One Weird Trick

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Surely, gentle surfer of “The Internets,” you have seen the banner ads promising to cure your diabetes, reduce your weight, increase your metabolism, enhance your love life, drop your auto insurance rates, get you out of your last speeding ticket, and improve your golf swing if you’ll just try this. . . One . . . Weird . . . Trick.  It’s tempting. I mean the letters are even flashing.  And the guy in the picture learned Italian in a week. Why else would language professors hate him?  That mom from Georgia is making more money than a Saudi prince. Working from home. … Read more…

Hush

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“In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”  Dr. King knew that some moments want words.  Sometimes, statements have to be made, songs must be sung, words beg to be spoken.  There is a time for silence. Solomon said so.  But for every time you wish you’d kept your mouth shut, I’ll bet there are three when you wrote speeches after the fact of all the things you could have said — all the things you should have said but didn’t.  Sometimes, the moment is so special, the offense is so … Read more…

O Brother Where Art Thou?

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Well, the blog is about two weeks old now, and I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for the way you’ve received it.  Thank you for your kind comments and encouragement.  Kudos to my daughter-in-law Katie, for helping set things up.  I’m really excited about today’s post.  It’s from my wife, Lisa.  She knows a thing or two about the subject, so pay attention.  And enjoy.  Thanks.   Sibling stories in the Bible fascinate me. Sometimes I wonder what unrecorded events happened between Cain and Abel or, maybe decades later, between Cain and Seth. And what about … Read more…

It’s How You Hear

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Recently, a group at our church tried to hear Genesis chapter 1 with fresh ears.  That’s hard to do for a lot of reasons.  Genesis is not exactly unexplored textual territory for Wednesday nighters in the Church of Christ.  They’ve known which thing God created on which day since they learned the Creation Song in Sister Jones’ Sunday school class back in 1972.  I mean, they are so biblically literate, can you imagine what glory would ensue if a Wednesday night regular appeared on Jeopardy and scored a Bible related category? “I’ll take obscure Bible characters for 1,000, Alex.” “And … Read more…

Where Differences Go To Die

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On Sunday morning when you go to church you are likely to be surrounded by people who are not like you.  They are not your age or gender or race.  They’re not from the same part of the country.  They talk funny.  They don’t eat grits.  Or do.  They don’t live like you live.  They’re obsessively clean or carelessly messy.  They’re always late.  Or early.  They shop at Saks.  Or The Salvation Army thrift store.  They drive a status symbol, the kind with a coveted badge on the hood.  Or they ride the bus.  Or walk. They don’t think like you think. … Read more…