A worldwide pandemic, forcing self-quarantining, has forced the church to consider the important elements of church life and wrestle through a season of online church while missing and longing for in person gatherings. I would like to offer some observations in regard to “online church.” Some of these are musings. Others of them may likely…
Introverted? Hmm? Those knowing me may question my personal assessment as an introvert. I suppose at times I may not appear as such. Most certainly, as a child, I was regularly looking for attention and desired to be in the middle of the spot light. I think that’s changed, maybe a few too many spotlights.…
In 1989 Ray Oldenburg wrote the book The Great Good Places in which he intriguingly discussed the importance and recent deterioration of third places within communities, places such as “cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, hair salons, and other hangouts at the heart of a community.” Within these third places, “people get to know one another…
Aristotle begins by briefly acknowledging that friendship can only be truly enjoyed and realized between two people for there must be a shared appreciation for friendship to be present. (1) We can’t have friendship with “lifeless objects . . . for it is not mutual love, nor is there a wishing of good to the…
A CONCISE ACCOUNT of the LIFE OF MR SAMUEL LAWRENCE (written by Matthew Henry) He was born in Wem, a little market town in Shropshire, and as appears by the register, was baptized Nov. 5, 1661. He was the only son of Mr William Lawrence, and Sarah his wife. His father was a very eminent…
[Vaughn Roberts writes a very accessible and brief book on True Friendship. In it, he offers 6 qualities of true friendship, and a discussion of each of these qualities make up the content of the six chapters in the book. Below, I have offered the six qualities and a favorite quote which in summary form identifies…
I found Wesley Hill’s second chapter in his book “Spiritual Friendship” to be the most helpful. He titled the chapter “I Love You Because You’re Mine.” While he discusses this title in conceptual form throughout the chapter, I had to read through about half the chapter to come to where he mentions the context from…
Dog Analogy # 1. After the second time of being bitten by the dog, no wonder I sat cautiously in the chair as the bathroom door opened to allow the dog to wander free. I’ve visited the Neevel’s home on a number of past occasions with no wounds to show for it, but ever since Fred’s hospice care,…
What if Jesus doesn’t satisfy? Personally, I don’t care for that question, and yet that question haunts me each time I pull up my unfinished drafts folder. This post has sat in the draft pile for more than a year with little more than the title, more specifically a question and a disconcerting question at…
What you accomplish for God beyond your home will typically never be greater than what you practice with God within your home. . . . Family ministry that never reaches beyond our households is like a regimen of spring training that never results in a real baseball game. [1] [1] Jones, Timothy Paul. Family Ministry Field…
Here’s a larger portion of the quote. A friend of Hill’s wrote him the following: “What I cannot imagine, what causes me to wince in terror, is the thought of being celibate in my 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond. Perhaps I lack your strength or contentment for celibacy. Perhaps I have not experienced the relational…
For some time, I have found social media, specifically Facebook, exhausting. I don’t recall the last time I got off of social media and thought to myself, “Wow, that was encouraging!” I do however recall nearly every time, needing Linda to pull me from the dark hole from which I had fallen. Dazed and discouraged,…
As we sat at the graduation rehearsal, one professor encouraged all the graduates with the reminder that this event was the culmination of all our hard work and a conclusion to the goal we had all set years before. In one sense this was encouraging, but at the same time, I struggled with the emotion…
Interesting quote from John Seldon in light of the pride consistently exhibited by Nebuchadnezzar through the book of Daniel. He nearly kills all the wise men in Babylon due to his pride in Daniel 2. He attempts to kill Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego due to his pride in Daniel 3. And finally God drastically confronts…
I finished up a biography of John Wycliffe this week, and this quote by Wycliffe grabbed me. It took a few times in reading it to grab a hold of it, but it was worth the brief time of meditation. Christians possess something the moralists and his reason will never understand – that being the…
Crowdedship 