Do we want tight doctrinal standards or do we want to follow Jesus?
After spending much of 2014 and 2015 visiting churches, I have become increasingly aware that people flock to church groups with tight doctrinal standards. As many note, these still show growth both in...
View ArticleAsk the Thoughtful Pastor: do you believe anything in the Bible is true?
I believe Bible is true. But that doesn’t mean it is historical in the sense that it records verifiable historical events nor does the truth of the Holy Scriptures make those words reliable scientific...
View ArticleHoly relics, skepticism and the power of shared liturgy
I am a hearty skeptic of such things as Holy Relics. I dismiss them as superstitious, as ways to make money off the ignorant and uninformed, as the acts of charlatans trying to squeeze even more money...
View ArticleWhat the UMC can learn from the GOP health care debacle
The GOP just doesn’t care about health care and the well-being of millions. And the so-called “orthodox” portion of the UMC doesn’t care about anything but getting their way. As for what is Jesus-like...
View ArticleHas God cursed my family for generations?
But it is a curse, and thus ordained by God. Or is it part of a troubling family pattern, one you can change? Dear Thoughtful Pastor: My great-grandmother, my grandmother and my mother all lost a child...
View ArticleTo save a world: Al Gore and global warming
But no matter what we do to slow the process–and we need to do all possible–we may have to assume the earth is undergoing a move toward warmer temperatures. It was a religious revival, with Al Gore...
View ArticleMean, Clean Paulianity: The Nashville Statement
I finally figured it out: Nashville Statement signers do not follow Jesus. They follow Paul, a troubled man who ran the message of grace through his own Pharisaic, black and white, male-centric, mean,...
View ArticleAbused Children Ask: Why Didn’t God Get Us out of There?
Never forget, parents and caregivers set the model for how people will perceive God later in life. Abused children face big obstacles to gain an understanding of the goodness of God.
View ArticleThe Church of the Holy Bunionectomy
Now, the group is not called The Church of the Holy Bunionectomy. But that is the role it serves in the lives of us who have joined it. In late August, after procrastinating for over 50 years, I began...
View ArticleSacred Customer Service, Healthy Feet, and The United Methodist Church
And I still think that without an actual apology, a move to sacred customer service, we may as well be upfront and say, “We are writing off the next generation of thinking and caring Jesus-followers.”...
View ArticleThe Angry White Male and Domestic Violence Gone Amuk
Our society idolizes the angry, white male. We heap praise on him, make TV shows and movies about him, turn him into a mega-star pastor celebrity, elect him to the highest offices in the land. Found at...
View ArticleIt’s the Little Things that Bring Big Things: Meditations on the New Year
Little things make the big things: what little things that make big things could we do in the big “do-over” time that we call the New Year? For the last four months of 2017, I lived with foot one or...
View ArticleBarbarians to Bureaucrats: Why the UMC Needs its Donald Trump
Trump–and his avid disciples–are barbarians. They are not politicians. They don’t understand or honor the slow process of making policies. The “way we’ve always done things” cry is irrelevant to them....
View ArticleThe Answer is NO! And the World Changes for the Better
Meditations on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day One young woman, eight years old and well before the age most people start thinking for themselves, said “NO.” “The answer is NO!” “No, I will not permit you...
View ArticleWife-Beating Is Not Normal: No Longer “Disappear” the Women
Here’s the truth about those who step up to complain of abuse: those who hold power seek to “disappear” them. I myself nearly did a permanent disappear. Until I decided to live. In a damning article...
View ArticleDear Thoughtful Pastor: Does God Play Favorites?
For those who preach and believe in predestination, the “God always has a plan” tribe, then yes, God does play favorites. Some get it good. Some don’t. Quit complaining. It’s all part of God’s design....
View ArticleThe Government Will Take No Steps To Stop The Slaughter of the Innocents
There is virtually no chance that the US government will enact any regulation that would limit the distribution of assault weapons, so we must take steps to find ways to identify and restrict the...
View ArticleMean, Clean Paulianity: The Nashville Statement
I finally figured it out: Nashville Statement signers do not follow Jesus. They follow Paul, a troubled man who ran the message of grace through his own Pharisaic, black and white, male-centric, mean,...
View ArticleWhat I Learned From Reading the Newspapers Today
One of the pleasures of being retired is the gift of time to read morning newspapers. The real ones: done with newsprint that sometimes makes my hands dirty and which must be recycled and with stories...
View ArticleGleanings From Today’s Newspaper: Cricket , Cauliflower and a Cowardly Pope
One of the pleasures of being retired is the gift of time to read the morning newspaper. I get the real ones: done with newsprint that sometimes makes my hands dirty and which must be recycled and with...
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