Future Wisdom

August 21, 2018

Year 3, Day 233 | No Comments

The world needs problem-solvers – the theme we follow on this date. To solve problems we look for wisdom (maturity) which is the conclusion of knowledge and understanding. We find it in persons who have a wholeness concept of the world and mankind. It is obvious in the family relationship, a relationship with many facets: genders, mates, parents, workers, and other factors which, if in balance builds community starting with individuals in families. Accents change as decades roll by, but there is a trace of optimism in the person or community that gains good leadership from safe and sane persons who hold objectives for all. What happens when we disassociate ourselves from some segment of the society, a society we… Read more

Future Wisdom

August 20, 2018

Year 3, Day 232 | No Comments

Section of Adoration of the Magi, artist unknown

Several analysts of the circumstances related to the April, 1995, bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, have suggested that a major cause of this and other dramatic tragedies, in America, is the anger of white (Caucasian) men in the young through early middle-age periods of their lives. These men, according to the analysts, feel put-upon by society, perhaps by parents, by government, by various interest groups and by the rhetoric of much of the mass media. Caucasian men have been taking their lumps. There is little doubt. They are portrayed as the murderers of native Americans (in Custer’s case, the Indians got to him as he was on his way to encounter them). But the exploiters of black… Read more

Biblical Inspiration

August 19, 2018

Year 3, Day 231 | No Comments

Is the Christian Scripture, identified as the Old Testament (Judeo) and New Testament (Christian), inspired of God? If it is inspired, what is its doctrine? That is: 1) the concepts are, in faith, ordered as they are communicated originally, and may be found in various forms of language: myth, poetry, parable, reality (history); or, 2) the God words, as they were approved, utilizing the styles of the human writers as a factor in revelation of meaning. In the original writings, the words were the choices of God in relating to the author so carry a force of meaning that would not be likely in any other context – unique. In both theories of inspiration there is presumed to be God’s… Read more

Religions

August 18, 2018

Year 3, Day 230 | No Comments

Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

Dreams, fantasies, mythology, and assorted dragons have been important mind furniture since before mankind learned to write, or the various arts created images of other-worldliness. The year of the dragon is meaningful to many Asians. The gods inspired the myths and arts of ancient Greece, and sometimes Rome. Remote tribes possess sometimes exotic myths that have held for millennia. Expressions of this mythology-bent in mankind shows itself in many ways, including astrology, sci-fi creations, and the like. Reviewing the popular series by George R. R. Martin, and especially the fifth book in the series, A Dance With Dragons, Tom Shippey, in his review of the title stated: . . . fantasy is now where the big action is. Millions yearn,… Read more

Good Life/Good Death

August 17, 2018

Year 3, Day 229 | No Comments

Section of The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio, 1602

On Sunday, April 27, 2014, the highly regarded TV program, Sunday Morning, declared a special edition of the secular program with the theme of Life and Death. As a secular program it was presumed to be a special approach in public media, incorporating advertisements of secular business, which focused on the multi-cultural society, to discuss life ending with death, a program that would invariably make reference to God. It would certainly involve claims of overlap between the natural and the supernatural – denials and affirmations, on doubts and probabilities. I reviewed the last half of the program to which the following paragraphs relate, but believe it catches the meaning the program meant to convey. During the first half of the… Read more

Mystery and Light

August 16, 2018

Year 3, Day 228 | No Comments

Mystery is a New Testament word that carries its largest meaning in silence. The word is translated from that meaning, as noted in concordances. In Romans the Apostle Paul addresses both the ignorance of mankind relative to God in mystery, and the revelation of God’s message to the extent he makes himself known. God will never be identified in nature, but nature will never be fully identified without God. God is silent about much of what we would like to know. What he is silent about we are left to leave the matter there and in faith accept the silence of God or conjecture about what the silence covers. (Romans 11:25) The conjectures, noted by the Apostle, may turn into… Read more

Final Word

August 15, 2018

Year 3, Day 227 | No Comments

Books have been written on the final words of persons, famous and infamous, ordinary and extraordinary. We have decided that in the last words the expiring person will leave behind thoughts that have been seasoned by life experience, and a desire to leave some perceptive information useful to those who receiving it will raise consideration, perhaps leading to life change that may be taken as part of the legacy left by the dying person. It may be personal so to be understood as personal to individuals, or it may be social related to this or that group of persons. Christians, for example, have given considerable attention to the last words of Jesus, spoken in the minutes before the ascension. They… Read more

Acceptance/Approval

August 14, 2018

Year 3, Day 226 | No Comments

Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

The imbalance in our lives for acceptance and approval is a major factor in both individuals and societies of individuals. I may approve of something I do not accept, or accept something I do not approve. This is a contradictory factor for virtually every person and society. We rightly yearn for balance, but it sometimes eludes us and causes deep problems. In the founding of America there was tension over the identity of slaves (African Americans) as relating to citizenship. They were persons so deserved citizenship, and they like other persons in the territory had been displaced of their former citizenship. The solution was to give them partial citizenship so to be counted in census, but without rights in a… Read more

Aloneness

August 13, 2018

Year 3, Day 225 | No Comments

Section of Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Benedetto Luti, 1715-20

Much of the life we live seems out of focus. We believe something (ephemeral) is present for us, but if in focus we would discover the photograph is somewhat different than we imagined it to be. We look for life and meaning, knowing that life is real and that it has meaning, but so much seems jumbled and we want it sorted out. We yearn for simplicity, but become aware that there is irresistible complexity. To gain composure we find a scenario, or look for one, that reduces perceptions to a lowest common denominator. It is a lesson we learned from our math teachers the first or second day we dealt with contractions. Get the matter to the least difficult… Read more

Preaching

August 12, 2018

Year 3, Day 224 | No Comments

The importance of preaching for the Church (spiritual) context is not to be denigrated in any way by the church (institutional), but carried forward as the central public offering of every congregation. Readers are reminded here that the use of Church (upper case C) in these Pages relates to the spiritual meaning of the Church as established at Pentecost and made up of those who, by faith, have believed in the redemptive message of Jesus Christ. That message then is adopted not only as a matter of belief but as the guide for conduct in life. That conduct includes devotion to God, and incremental growth (improvement) in Christian life formation. A major concern in that performance is that it be… Read more

Monthly Archives: August 2018