Those of you who have been around a long time, know that I have a strong aversion to how the word “blessed” is used.
When everyone is healthy - we are blessed
When finances are good - we are blessed
When all the babies born have 10 fingers and 10 toes - we are blessed
When we get a job promotion - we are blessed
When marriages stay together - we are blessed
When the forest fire doesn’t touch our vacation home, even though it burns a whole bunch of other people’s homes - we are blessed
It all makes me want to gag!
Blessed Are The Fearless
March 27, 2022
More from
Lent 2022
It's Easter Every Day
April 24, 2022
Over the past 16 years, my appreciation and love of Easter has dramatically grown. I don’t know why it took me so long to move away from the effort of trying to “prove” the resurrection happened and simply looking around to see resurrection all around, but it did. For years I focused my attention on the event of Jesus rising from the dead without really seeing the effect of Jesus rising from the dead. I certainly understood the effect of the resurrection in terms of my own experience, but I think I missed its importance in all of creation.
It Was A Protest Not a Parade
April 10, 2022 • Mark 11:1–10
In most church practice, the triumphal entry of Jesus has been this joyous celebration of the people’s recognition of Jesus as the Messiah. We waved our palm branches and sang victory songs. We joined the victory parade. As the final Sunday of Lent, it was like the tailgate party before the big game.
Dining In The New Society
April 3, 2022
In a 1964 speech at the University of Michigan, President Lyndon B Johnson first laid out his agenda for what he coined “the Great Society.” It included a set of domestic policy initiatives aimed at addressing poverty, ending racial injustice, reducing crime, and improving the environment. Centrist in their approach, Johnson’s Great Society policies targeted education, workforce training, healthcare, and food security, as well as voting and civil rights. What happened?