Yesterday I happened to tune in to the Michael Medved radio show. He’s a conservative and talks politics. I think he has a good show. He is a practicing Jew.
The hour I tuned in he announced he will off for at least a month as he is battling cancer. He shared his story and took calls. He spoke of his faith in God and spoke of how others have rallied around him. He mentioned a Christian that prayed with him over the phone.
It was a moving hour as he bared his soul as he faces his battle and has been told he should have a good recovery after his treatments are complete.
As I listened to such a humble and sincere man I couldn’t help but think if he is to die in his current spiritual state he will face a christless eternity.
To even bring up this topic outside of Christian circles would bring about tons of remarks marking me as all sorts of things.
I have to admit as I listened there was a part of me that hoped there was a way for this man and others to not face eternity without Christ.
The truth of the gospel is very sobering period. As I thought about this I realized how easy it can be for some to abandon the gospel message for something that is more comfortable.
I can only pray I stay the course. So many I know and love are choosing the wider road. God give each of us the strength to be faithful and to share the truth in humility and love.
Catered a memorial service today for a 103 year old woman who recently passed away. What an amazing life she lived. I especially liked the photos of her with a variety of celebrities taken many years ago–John Wayne and the like. Her children and their offspring were a kind and gracious reflection of woman. Fun, encouraging day.
Since it was first played, in January 1967, the Super Bowl has grown from a mere sporting event to a true cultural phenomenon.
The festivities surrounding the game — from the fighter-jet flyovers to the halftime spectaculars to the postgame presidential phone calls — have imbued the game with a larger-than-life significance.
The Super Bowl has created “a convergence of sports, politics, and myth,” said Joseph L. Price, a religion professor at Whittier College in California.
“Like festivals in ancient societies, which made no distinctions regarding the religious, political, and sporting character of certain events, the Super Bowl succeeds in reuniting these now disparate dimensions of social life.”
Price wrote those words in 1974, when the Super Bowl audience was just 50 million people, less than half of what it is today.
By Walter Brueggemann
From Prayers for a Privileged People
The world of fast money,
and loud talk,
and much hype is upon us.
We praise huge men whose names will linger only briefly.
We will eat and drink,
and gamble and laugh,
and cheer and hiss,
and marvel and then yawn.
We show up, most of us, for such a circus,
and such an indulgence.
Loud clashing bodies,
violence within rules,
and money and merchandise and music.
And you—today like every day—
you govern and watch and summon;
you are glad when there is joy in the earth,
But you notice our liturgies of disregard and
our litanies of selves made too big,
our fascination with machismo power,
and lust for bodies and for big bucks.
And around you gather today, as every day,
elsewhere uninvited, but noticed acutely by you,
those disabled and gone feeble,
those alone and failed,
those uninvited and shamed.
And you whose gift is more than “super,”
Overflowing, abundant, adequate, all sufficient.
The day of preoccupation with creature comforts writ large.
We pause to be mindful of our creatureliness,
our commonality with all that is small and vulnerable exposed,
your creatures called to obedience and praise.
Give us some distance from the noise,
some reserve about the loud success of the day,
that we may remember that our life consists
not in things we consume
but in neighbors we embrace.
Be our good neighbor that we may practice
your neighborly generosity all through our needy
neighborhood.
It’s all yours today…
Yesterday I happened to tune in to the Michael Medved radio show. He’s a conservative and talks politics. I think he has a good show. He is a practicing Jew.
The hour I tuned in he announced he will off for at least a month as he is battling cancer. He shared his story and took calls. He spoke of his faith in God and spoke of how others have rallied around him. He mentioned a Christian that prayed with him over the phone.
It was a moving hour as he bared his soul as he faces his battle and has been told he should have a good recovery after his treatments are complete.
As I listened to such a humble and sincere man I couldn’t help but think if he is to die in his current spiritual state he will face a christless eternity.
To even bring up this topic outside of Christian circles would bring about tons of remarks marking me as all sorts of things.
I have to admit as I listened there was a part of me that hoped there was a way for this man and others to not face eternity without Christ.
The truth of the gospel is very sobering period. As I thought about this I realized how easy it can be for some to abandon the gospel message for something that is more comfortable.
I can only pray I stay the course. So many I know and love are choosing the wider road. God give each of us the strength to be faithful and to share the truth in humility and love.
Amen E-runner. Dennis Prager is another who comes to mind (though he is not battling cancer to my knowledge).
Do the Rapture and Dispensationalists folks ever give up?
http://watchfinal.com/#
Lent is coming up – Ash Wednesday Feb 18th – be prepared
https://us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=9jg0c7c9maf7i#3522871951
Here is the proper Lent video
http://www.cph.org/showpost.aspx?pID=98&trk_msg=2AB9P7NCMOVKL08912N9HLS340&trk_contact=G6SVMT7QKEKS04F6EU28387CV0&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cph.org%2fshowpost.aspx%3fpID%3d98&utm_campaign=1.30.15_595124.03+What+Is+Lent+Video
Good video Luther…
Liked it. Might use it.
Some may know that the police had taken down the Pirate Bay download site.
While it is back on line today.
Go check out the logo…LOL
Sometime around a week ago, the waving pirate flag video changed to a graphic of an orange phoenix, and a disabled search box showed up.
https://thepiratebay.se/
Catered a memorial service today for a 103 year old woman who recently passed away. What an amazing life she lived. I especially liked the photos of her with a variety of celebrities taken many years ago–John Wayne and the like. Her children and their offspring were a kind and gracious reflection of woman. Fun, encouraging day.
Super Sunday today, hopefully the football game will be good as I can do without the pomp and circumstance of the way over hyped Super Bowl
Since it was first played, in January 1967, the Super Bowl has grown from a mere sporting event to a true cultural phenomenon.
The festivities surrounding the game — from the fighter-jet flyovers to the halftime spectaculars to the postgame presidential phone calls — have imbued the game with a larger-than-life significance.
The Super Bowl has created “a convergence of sports, politics, and myth,” said Joseph L. Price, a religion professor at Whittier College in California.
“Like festivals in ancient societies, which made no distinctions regarding the religious, political, and sporting character of certain events, the Super Bowl succeeds in reuniting these now disparate dimensions of social life.”
Price wrote those words in 1974, when the Super Bowl audience was just 50 million people, less than half of what it is today.
http://theweek.com/articles/536265/super-bowl-ate-america
How to watch the game on line:
https://gigaom.com/2015/01/30/xlix-super-bowl-live-stream/
Didn’t go to church this morning …..snow storm blowing in.Need climate change.
Super Bowl Sunday
By Walter Brueggemann
From Prayers for a Privileged People
The world of fast money,
and loud talk,
and much hype is upon us.
We praise huge men whose names will linger only briefly.
We will eat and drink,
and gamble and laugh,
and cheer and hiss,
and marvel and then yawn.
We show up, most of us, for such a circus,
and such an indulgence.
Loud clashing bodies,
violence within rules,
and money and merchandise and music.
And you—today like every day—
you govern and watch and summon;
you are glad when there is joy in the earth,
But you notice our liturgies of disregard and
our litanies of selves made too big,
our fascination with machismo power,
and lust for bodies and for big bucks.
And around you gather today, as every day,
elsewhere uninvited, but noticed acutely by you,
those disabled and gone feeble,
those alone and failed,
those uninvited and shamed.
And you whose gift is more than “super,”
Overflowing, abundant, adequate, all sufficient.
The day of preoccupation with creature comforts writ large.
We pause to be mindful of our creatureliness,
our commonality with all that is small and vulnerable exposed,
your creatures called to obedience and praise.
Give us some distance from the noise,
some reserve about the loud success of the day,
that we may remember that our life consists
not in things we consume
but in neighbors we embrace.
Be our good neighbor that we may practice
your neighborly generosity all through our needy
neighborhood.