God ordered Jeremiah to go stand in The People’s Gate. We are told this in Jeremiah 17 in verse 19, just beyond 17:5-10, the Lectionary Reading for Sunday. The Reading applies the image of trees to us, as individuals. The Psalms portion says people who obey God’s ethical demands are like a flourishing tree (Psalm […]
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Isaiah’s call vision is in the Old Testament readings for tomorrow, Isaiah chapter 6. The English Standard Version supplies the heading “Isaiah’s vision of the Lord” for verses 1-7 and “Isaiah’s commission from the Lord” for verses 8-13. What do these verses teach us about God, the Bible and ourselves? One, the angels in Isaiah’s
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When I say sermons and trembling go together, I speak both as a giver and as a hearer of sermons. When I read verses such as “The words of Jeremiah … to whom the word of the Lord came …” (Jeremiah 1:1), I tremble. I remember how Quakers got their name: ““Quaker” emerged as a
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Nehemiah 8 is the Old Testament lectionary reading for tomorrow, Sunday 23 January 2022. This chapter marks a turning point in the history of Israel. It’s “a new beginning” for the nation of Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, whom God renamed Israel. Nehemiah 8 speaks of Jews. Those who identify as Jews today have no
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Have you ever wondered whether you should change your name? Long ago, I thought names indicate religious faith or upbringing. The first computer I used was made by a Taiwanese company called Multitech. The name of its founder was Stan. I thought he was a Christian. I was wrong. In Thailand and Indonesia, citizens are
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“Tone at the top” is what I think of when I think of Azam Baki, the embattled Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). Detection, avoidance and elimination of corrupt practices featured in the last two organizations I worked for in my professional career. Both had Codes of Conduct which laid out what we
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I ended my article about the talk I gave to BLC youth by noting that I presented 3 views about capital punishment. My purpose in that article was to reveal the back story to my talk. What I said about the content of my talk was incidental, just background to my struggle over accepting the
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An account of the intersection of my life with books. Reading some odd things about Oxford, UK – in a biography of Dorothy L Sayers by Colin Duriez – made me recall odd things in books I’ve read. And made me think about how I started reading, what I read over the years, what endures, and my habit of acquiring books as travel momentos.
Joy in reading and 101 chimes at 9:05 pm Read More »
I begin with 6 reasons why I was reluctant to accept an invitation to speak about the death penalty. I explain why I accepted. I mention 4 true stories which I used to humanize my talk. I conclude by listing 3 Christian views of the death penalty.
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Rothney Tshaka made me think hard about black liberation theology. Tshaka’s the Director of the School of Humanities in the University of South Africa (Unisa). In his 19-minute contribution to the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) series on Public Theology, he introduces himself as an ordained minister, a student of black liberation theology, and author of
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