I like to think of the Great Emergence as reported in the book by Phyllis Tickle as “Post-Religion”. It moves beyond what we call currently call religion into the next phase of focusing on the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. It moves beyond building cathedrals to building relationships and love between all of God’s people not just those in our particular version of Christian … Continue reading It Moves Beyond….
“Great spirits have always been violently oppressed by mediocre minds.” ~Albert Einstein Continue reading We should all strive to be great spirits…
Has it really ever worked??? Continue reading Lessons Never Learned…….
I have been in a reflective mood lately. I don’t know why but I have been thinking of things of life. Pretty deep huh?? One of those things is how I feel about myself and my experiences of life. The Mark Twain quote below pretty well sums up one aspect. I am old. I recognize it but I don’t realize it. I wonder if a … Continue reading Reflections….
There is no “right way” to have church, but there is a wrong way. Scripture gives us very little instruction for church. We are told to “gather together” (Hebrews 10:24), we have the example of the Eucharist set by Christ (Luke 22:19), and we have a command to address the needs around us (Acts 4:32-35, 20:35, Hebrews 13:16, James 1:27), we are told to be … Continue reading 8 Good Reasons to Change Modern Church Service
“There isn’t a person on earth that would make fun of a bald three-year-old who was undergoing chemotherapy. And yet, if someone’s acting weird we call them names. … It’s so accepted that it’s frightening,” Laura said, highlighting insults like “whack job,” “nut case,” and “psycho.” SOURCE: For those with mental illness, stigma cuts deep – CBS News. Let’s face it our society is still … Continue reading For those with mental illness, stigma cuts deep
“The liberal media would have you believe that there’s nobody that looks like the people on this stage that have an R behind their name. And that’s just not the case,” said Oklahoma’s Shannon, who suggested that the party should stress its belief in limited government and personal responsibility, two values that he learned from his local African-American church. Agness, the founder and president of … Continue reading All Those Damn Liberals…..
The last post I gave you some reasons why they say people blog and how I fit those categories. This time I am going to give the three main reasons why I blog. Some might think the contents of RJ’s Corner and my other blogs are a mishmash of topics but I think they hold a few of common threads. 1) I blog to … Continue reading Why I Blog – The Real Reasons…
On the morning of Saturday, August, 24, Love Wins showed up at Moore Square at 9:00 a.m., just like we have done virtually every Saturday and Sunday for the last six years. We provide, without cost or obligation, hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich to anyone who wants one. We keep this promise to our community in cooperation with five different, large suburban churches that help us … Continue reading Feeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC
My young Romanian blogger friend Cristian Mihai stated recently that one of the reasons he blogs is because he is lonely. Another is that he has to blog/write. To not do so would deny his very existence. After reading those words and others from various bloggers I have started to think at a deeper, more fundamental level, just why do why I put so … Continue reading Why Blog???
When you consider that the Bible was written by over 40 separate authors and compiled from thousands of manuscripts, in different languages, over hundreds of years, from a variety of locations around the world, with little collaboration, and ultimately interpreted into hundreds of translations—there are bound to be ambiguities…. Ultimately, all of these biblical issues force Christians to ask some huge questions: Is God true? … Continue reading Troubles with the Bible…
Upon my recent return from the Middle East (with The Global Immersion Project), I was struck more than ever before at our Western infatuation around military aggression, violence and division. Not only are these the primary narratives we are fed through our major media outlets, they are the narratives we subconsciously embrace through the latest bestseller, box office hit or video game. Violence, death and … Continue reading Our Obsession With Violence …..
Everyone in America knows the catchy slogan: What Would Jesus Do (WWJD)? Of all the Christian memorabilia donned by the church, these bracelets and T-shirts have remained at the top of the list for quite sometime. For only $5.99, you too can show the world that you follow in the footsteps of Jesus, to do what Jesus would do when faced with temptation. The apostles … Continue reading So, Why Don’t We???
North Korea on Sunday accepted a South Korean offer for talks on reuniting families separated by war, but proposed separate talks on resuming lucrative tours to a scenic North Korean mountain in an apparent effort to link the two discussions. SOURCE: Koreas agree on talks to reunite families separated by war – CBS News. I sure hope that this latest opening between North and South … Continue reading Koreas agree on talks to reunite families separated by war
“We never will have any prosperity that is free from speculation till we pass a law that every time a broker or person sells something, he has got to have it sitting there in a bucket, or a bag, or a jug, or a cage, or a rat trap, or something, depending on what it is he is selling. We are continually buying something that … Continue reading From The Man Who Never Had It….
Christians will not be agents of reconciliation and healing as long as they see the world from the perspective of the privileged or fail to even attempt to see from the viewpoints for those who are unlike themselves in important ways. We have a higher calling than simply to be representative of our race, class, nationality or whatever else defines us in this world. “As … Continue reading Agents of Reconciliation..
He reminds me of the man who murdered both of his parents, and then when sentence was about to be pronounced, pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan. Abraham Lincoln Continue reading A Little Humor For Saturday…
3) We turn Christianity into a culture rather than a lifestyle. We have turned Christianity into a market. We have reduced Christianity to products we consume, sell, and advertise. We are more about profits than prophets. Christianity has become a culture rather than a lifestyle. We’ve been taught to consume Christian products rather than being Christian. We’ve been taught to be salespeople for Jesus rather … Continue reading Inspiring Quotes…
“No nation ever had two better friends than we have. You know who they are. They are the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans.” – Will Rogers, 9 April 1933 You know Will you are on to something here. I know you were around when all the saber-rattling was going on in Europe in the early 1930s. I know you had at least a preliminary taste … Continue reading No Better Friends…
On 15 August 1935, Will Rogers and Wiley Post were on their way from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Barrow, Alaska, when they encountered some heavy fog. Post knew they were near Barrow, but due to the conditions, was having difficulty spotting any landmarks. After spotting a small native camp near Walakpa Lagoon, Wiley Post landed the plane to ask for directions to Barrow. After Will and … Continue reading Here’s To You Will…
2) We focus on The Great Commission over The Great Commandment The Great Commission does not supersede the Great Commandment. Our mission is first and foremost: “Love God with all your heart and mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself.” What we have done is divorce The Great Commission from the Great Commandment. We falsely believe our commission to make disciples is separate from our … Continue reading Inspiring Quotes….
Several things have come together lately that take my focus to the decisions we make in our lives. With that in mind I am going to attempt a series of posts here at RJ’s Corner with the title above. Every day we make hundreds of choices in our lives. Many of them are things like what to eat, or when to go to bed. I … Continue reading Don’t Get Stuck – The Series…. Opening Remarks
1) We try to share our faith before we even have any. I remember talking with a 13 year old girl who came to Chicago for a mission trip. I asked her what she was doing. She said, “I went downtown to evangelize the homeless!” At first, I thought, “how sweet,” but then I thought, “how arrogant!” First, why do we assume the homeless … Continue reading Inspiring Quotes….
Texas has always prided itself on its free-market posture. It is the only state that does not require companies to contribute to workers’ compensation coverage. It boasts the largest city in the country, Houston, with no zoning laws. It does not have a state fire code, and it prohibits smaller counties from having such codes. Some Texas counties even cite the lack of local fire … Continue reading Cowboy Boots & Fire Codes….
I have come to a realization lately that these stories of all us old people living longer is a bunch of phooey. Here I am finishing up my second year of being on Medicare and when I read the obituaries in our local small town paper I see lots of people who are much younger than I am. That fact has kind of startled me and … Continue reading Living Longer…
The Lord’s prayer is rightly the most spoken prayer in Christianity. But there are several statement in that prayer that are for the most part glossed over by many in the current day church. One of the most obvious is “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Here is what Martin Luther thought of these words: The good … Continue reading He Told Us How To Do It……
“Plans get you into things but you got to work your way out.” – Will Rogers, 25 June 1931 Be careful you might just get what you plan for. I seem to have to learn that lesson over and over again through my life. I am a planner to my soul. When I was six years old you could often find me out on the … Continue reading Planning…
“Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. When they do nothing, that don’t hurt anybody. It’s when they do something is when they become dangerous.” – Will Rogers, 22 November 1929 Maybe I am looking at the politics thing all wrong Will? As you say if our congress is doing nothing maybe that is a good thing. Maybe when they do things is … Continue reading We Have The Best Congress Ever…..
“No man is great if he thinks he is.” – Will Rogers, 1 March 1929 All of us have an ego but in some it is much more inflated than others. Our current politicians seem to have much more than their share of ego. But there also is plenty available to us outside the political sphere. It seems to me that one of the primary … Continue reading Ego….
The Post, according to its own announcement of its sale for $250 million, has suffered a 44 percent drop in operating revenue over the past six years. Like other once-prosperous big-city dailies, it has been wounded by the defection of readers and advertisers to Internet competitors. No major U.S. newspaper now claims to have a business model that would guarantee its survival, let alone its … Continue reading Thinking Long Term….
Housing is coming back. Banks are lending again. Energy is booming. A prominent Democrat argues that the U.S. economy is finally coming back to life SOURCE: Is the U.S. Economy Coming Back to Life? – TIME. Everything is great again in the USA! The stock markets are booming. Banks are as profitable as ever and are now lending again. All the economic indicators are rising. These … Continue reading Everything is Great Except…..
I am a big fan of the TV show “Little People, Big World” about the Roloff family. The mother and father and one of the four children are dwarfs. I think I relate to them because I too face a daily handicap. I have watched the show since its origination I don’t know how many years ago. What brings this to mind is the latest … Continue reading Life’s Frustrations…
We want an end to the culture wars. We want a truce between science and faith. We want to be known for what we stand for, not what we are against. We want to ask questions that don’t have predetermined answers. We want churches that emphasize an allegiance to the kingdom of God over an allegiance to a single political party or a single nation. … Continue reading Not That Much Different….
What would happen if we spent as much money on seeking peace as we did going to war? I suspect the cartoon would be much different. It would be a fleet of Maseratis on the Autobahn instead of what you see above. I don’t know if peace would actually happen even with this reversal but wouldn’t it be interesting to find out? Maybe we could … Continue reading Peace Talks…
Morf Morford considers himself a free-range Christian who is convinced that God expects far more of us than we can ever imagine, but somehow thinks God knows more than we do….. As he’s getting older, he finds himself less tolerant of pettiness and dairy products. SOURCE: Morf Morford: It’s NOT the economy, stupid | Red Letter Christians. I am going to do a rare cross post … Continue reading God Knows More Than I Do…….
Morf Morford considers himself a free-range Christian who is convinced that God expects far more of us than we can ever imagine, but somehow thinks God knows more than we do….. As he’s getting older, he finds himself less tolerant of pettiness and dairy products. SOURCE: Morf Morford: It’s NOT the economy, stupid | Red Letter Christians. I am going to do a rare cross post … Continue reading God Knows More Than I Do…..
RJ's Corner 