Resurrection life
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Resurrection life

Most religions address the challenge of death with some concept of an afterlife. Islam presents the goal as paradise. Eastern religions speak of reincarnation, then escape into the great universal spirit. Most Materialists say, “When you’re dead, you’re dead,” with hope being in the next generations. Christians sometimes talk of life after death as “heaven,”…

What divides us
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What divides us

Picture a world divided: religiously, politically, economically and socially. Religiously, some stress faithful, traditional worship, as they learned it. Many focus on morality behavior. Others say it is about prophetic action, especially to right injustices. Politically, some like government programs from “we, the people.” Others favor local government for our community. People sometimes fight the…

Words for change
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Words for change

Change.Are you excited or frightened? Is it a command, a request, a statement? Do you see it as external or internal? In the changing of the year, we reflect on change “for auld lang syne.” Time, by definition, changes, and studies suggest the pace of change is increasing. There is economic change, social change, political…

Imaging God
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Imaging God

Picture God. We might have a mental picture, but the commandment against graven images tells us not to limit God with our pictures. The Scriptures are full of metaphors to help us relate to God: Father, King, Lord, Shepherd, Rock. When theologians describe God, they often use negatives. God is independent, immutable, infinite, indivisible, and…

The art of questions
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The art of questions

Art Linkletter asked children questions. He concluded “kids say the darndest things.” Do we ask enough questions? Questions play different roles. Questions investigate, inquire, interrogate. Questions expose need, attitudes, understanding, misunderstanding, interpretation and inconsistencies. Questions can challenge, express frustration or curiosity, create agreement, or show disagreement. Questions create interaction, discussion, relationships. Good questions invite. Do…

Patterns

Patterns

“Time keeps on slipping . . . into the future” (“Fly Like an Eagle,” Steve Miller Band, 1976). Have we lost a year? The pandemic has disturbed our patterns and sense of time. Immanuel Kant argued that the human mind imposes structures of time and space. The Biblical creation account depicts time and space as…

Lectio Divina
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Lectio Divina

The elder googled it, thought it sounded like a new age mystical practice and suggested I not choose the topic of lectio divina for their adult education. That response was reason enough, so I introduced them to this way of reading Scripture, which the church has practiced for 1500 years with the encouragement of monks,…