I am not referring to the 1980 film, Ordinary People with Mary Tyler Moore. That movie was a depiction of an upper middle-class family, led by a prosperous tax-attorney, whose well-groomed house with its ample square footage, in an upscale…
The sound of a distant airplane fills me with a sense of mystery as the position of being in a giant airliner, neither here nor there, is wrapped in possibility. I have left my place of connection, home, and am…
Jeremiah 29:11 is cited often as a message of encouragement. Sadly, many people memorize this tender verse in isolation. It is important to view the passage in its historical context to understand it accurately. The prophet Jeremiah is addressing the…
I walked into Starbuck’s and ordered a light lunch. The barista was an engaging young woman who added, “Have an amazing day”. As I collected the cheese/cracker/fruit combo, I smiled to myself. The word “amazing” has become a catch-all description…
“Thank God It’s Friday” became such a mantra during the 1980s that it spawned a chain of restaurants with that name. I was in seminary at the time. I recall the plaque one of my professors had hung on a…
We’ve all seen them: well-dressed women sitting in neat rows of cushioned chairs, listening to a hyper-ventilating speaker walking around, next to, but rarely behind the carefully placed podium on a raised platform. We’ve also heard the stories of these…
It was a warm, breezy evening in Glendale, Arizona. I had just completed another lecture in a course, “American Intellectual History,” as an adjunct instructor at ASU West, on the other side of the sprawling Phoenix area that stretched from…
For years I have been appalled by what I have observed in many evangelical circles: an emergence of what I call a cult of celebrity Christianity. That is a sharp indictment and, perhaps, not a completely fair assessment of “believers”.…
The sanctuary was hushed with expectancy. The lights were low; a tall Christmas tree stood in the shadows. The orchestra began the moving overture of Handel’s Messiah. The choir stood at the conductor’s direction. Well into the oratorio, a small,…
The hour was late, easily after midnight, and I had just gone to bed. I made myself comfortable with propped up pillows as I was not quite ready for sleep. Suddenly, a name popped out of my past: a former…
I was attending an old Presbyterian church in a busy southwestern city. I had completed an M.Div. (Master of Divinity) degree years before. That degree grants its recipients entry to the pastorate. I was not yet on that road—rather standing…