There’s been a lot of talk lately about the lack of civility in our society. People just aren’t very nice. People readily say unkind things to one another and, and are often rude. Everyone from news commentators to schoolteachers has decried the absence of courtesy in the general public. Education in manners, we’re told, is sorely needed.
As a commuter, I’ll vouch for that.
The number of Christians living in the Holy Land is shrinking, and this 60 Minutes story explains why. I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Mitri Raheb, one of the speakers in this video, in his study at Christmas Lutheran Church in 2007. Leaders like this give me confidence that we can have both peace and justice in the Holy Land.
A fish can’t see the water its swimming in, and many church leaders are mostly unaware of their ministry context for the same reason. They’re so immersed in it that it disappears. Understanding the ministry context is vital for church leaders, and one way to get a fresh look at your surroundings is to change them. I had that experience on a recent trip to the city of Chicago.
Being in the big city for a couple of days gave me a fresh view of the suburbs, and I began to see characteristics of ministry in both places that I hadn’t seen before. Here is what I observed.
UPDATE: Aug. 8, 2012 – Memorial 52 was ratified by the required two-thirds majority of district conference delegates in The Wesleyan Church and is now in effect. Although I spoke in opposition to this change, I readily accept the outcome of our governing process and look to the future with a spirit of unity.
Writing about divorce is always difficult, especially when you have been divorced, as I have. I feel a bit like C. S. Lewis, who was reluctant to address the same issue in Mere Christianity because “Christian doctrines on this subject are extremely unpopular.”1
I am taking the risk because my denomination, The Wesleyan Church, is considering a change in our official teaching on marriage and divorce that I believe is unwise.
Here it is in a nutshell.
The toughest conversation you’ll ever have is the one in which you tell your father how much you love him. This poignant video from Igniter Media illustrates it so well.
I’m grateful that my father took the initiative to have this kind conversation with me earlier this week. Now it’s my turn to man up and have a similar talk with my son.
This weekend I hope you’ll find the courage to tell the old man or the young man in your life just how much he means to you.
Happy Father’s Day, 2012
Many newer churches more closely resemble a movie theater than a cathedral, and that is usually intentional. For a number of years the trend has been to de-emphasize the sacred in church architecture in order to make newcomers comfortable and facilitate growth.
It sounds like a good idea. But does it work?
Reading Andrew Murray is like taking your morning devotions from a fire hose. This excerpt from Humility: The Beauty of Holiness both humbles and inspires. Published in 1895, it’s still on the money.
In striving after the higher experiences of the Christian life, the believer is often in danger of aiming at and rejoicing in what one might call the more human, the manly, virtues, such as boldness, joy, contempt of the world, zeal, self-sacrifice . . . while the deeper and gentler, the diviner and more heavenly graces, those which Jesus first taught upon earth, because He brought them from heaven; those which are more distinctly connected with His cross and the death of self—poverty of spirit, meekness, humility, lowliness—are scarcely thought of or valued.
