Bowing to Mystery

Based on a passage out of Psalm 8: When I consider your heavens,the work of your fingers,the moon...

Sun, 26 May 2013 00:00:38 -0400

Based on a passage out of Psalm 8:

When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned them with glory and honor.

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Tue, 21 May 2013 18:30:31 -0400

The Non-Pauline Epistles

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:30:18 -0400

A friend made this as a study guide for an exam, but if you’re curious to know a bit more about the Non-Pauline Epistles (letters in the New Testament of the Bible, not written by Paul, like Ephesians, Collossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2, & 3 John, and Jude) take a look at this ‘Prezi.’

On top of Aspinwall one more time.

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:55:45 -0400

On top of Aspinwall one more time.

The Secret Pain of Pastors

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:30:30 -0400

The Secret Pain of Pastors:

Philip Wagner offers insight into the six major struggles pastors face in the ministry and how to overcome them.

Recommended by my bishop. Now I pass it on to my seminary classmates as we prepare to graduate next week and go out into the “real world.”

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Sat, 18 May 2013 18:30:23 -0400

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Fri, 17 May 2013 18:30:22 -0400

6 Secrets To Kicking Butt At Fundraising

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:27 -0400

6 Secrets To Kicking Butt At Fundraising:

3) Prove That Your Organization Is Effective In The Cause: Many times an organization will engage people on a cause and do a great job communicating urgency, but they fail to demonstrate how the organization specifically is being effective in serving the cause. It is not uncommon for an organization to engage an individual on a issue who then goes and donates to a different organization serving the same issue. This is because a person’s heart became invested but their mind questioned whether or not your organization was the best solution to solve it. Here are some tips.

Clearly Show Why Your Organization Is Best: Each organization should be able to articulate why they are the best at a particular cause or issue. Do you have a localized infrastructure or inside angle? Perhaps you are just quicker and more efficient. Maybe your approach is just different. Whatever it is, toot that horn.
Show Results: Don’t be like most organizations who cast the vision without showing the results. Show what your organization has specifically done.
Explain The Model: Don’t leave it up to the imagination for how each dollar helps the cause. Explain how the process, methodology, approach and result of your efforts meet the need.
Demonstrate Credibility and Authority: Avoid things that make you look small, inexperienced and unprofessional. If you are using a paypal donate button as your sole donation option, you are giving a very small impression to donors.

Oh my gosh, THIS. This is Water by David Foster Wallace

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:49:13 -0400

Oh my gosh, THIS.

This is Water by David Foster Wallace

Bishop James Pike had an interesting way about him…and...

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:30:41 -0400

Bishop James Pike had an interesting way about him…and whether or not one agrees with him and his sometimes radical viewpoints, it is refreshing to know that it is possible for different kinds of Christian viewpoints to be heard on television.

He had a weekly television show for a time…what would it be like if such voices had that kind of reach today?

Relationships Are More Important Than Ambition

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:30:12 -0400

Relationships Are More Important Than Ambition:

In another study, Putnam and a colleague found that people who attend religious services regularly are, thanks to the community element, more satisfied with their lives than those who do not. Their well-being was not linked to their religious beliefs or worshipping practices, but to the number of friends they had at church. People with ten or more friends at their religious services were about twice as satisfied with their lives than people who had no friends there.

These outcomes are interesting given that relationships and community pose some challenges to our assumptions about the good life. After all, relationships and community impose constraints on freedom, binding people to something larger than themselves. The assumption in our culture is that limiting freedom is detrimental to well-being. That is true to a point. Barry Schwartz, a psychological researcher based at Swarthmore College, has done extensive research suggesting that too much freedom — or a lack of constraints — is detrimental to human happiness.

Why Going to Church Is Good for You

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:30:13 -0400

Why Going to Church Is Good for You:

Going to church is good for your health. The exact reasons are unclear, but there are several likely explanations.

Eventually, this may teach us how to harness the “placebo” effect — a terrible word, because it suggests an absence of intervention rather than the presence of a healing mechanism that depends neither on pharmaceuticals nor on surgery. We do not understand the placebo effect, but we know it is real. That is, we have increasingly better evidence that what anthropologists would call “symbolic healing” has real physical effects on the body. At the heart of some of these mysterious effects may be the capacity to trust that what can only be imagined may be real, and be good.

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:00:18 -0400

Apartheid Regime Bomb Victim Father Michael Lapsley on Using...

Sun, 12 May 2013 18:30:36 -0400

Apartheid Regime Bomb Victim Father Michael Lapsley on Using Forgiveness to Heal From Tragedy

Happy Mothers’ Day to a great one! (at City of Camas)

Sun, 12 May 2013 16:36:58 -0400

Happy Mothers’ Day to a great one! (at City of Camas)

New Yorker writes King James Bible

Sat, 11 May 2013 18:30:29 -0400

New Yorker writes King James Bible:

A New York state man is finishing up his handwritten copy of the King James Bible after four years and 2,400 pages.

Phillip Patterson, 63, began the project after his long-time partner, Mohammed, told him there is a tradition in Islam of writing out the Koran.

“The next day I started researching pens and pencils and paper,” he said.

Despite health issues that have sent him to hospital, including Aids and anaemia, he will finish writing the last words at his church this week.

Why I Made My Teenager Go to Church

Fri, 10 May 2013 18:30:14 -0400

Why I Made My Teenager Go to Church:

When I opened the bulletin, I realized that Sunday was the “Senior High Service,” that day when a high school senior from the church gives the sermon. With her long brown hair and sincere gaze, Miranda Nolin walked to the pulpit after the Gospel reading and told us that when she reads the Nicene Creed, our profession of faith, she often doesn’t believe any of the words she says. (Well, she got our attention).

But she repeats the Nicene Creed each week: “Because they are an act of community, a binding tradition, they have value.”

From the pulpit, Miranda assured us that traditions “allow us to have faith, to show up, to be present when we don’t know what to believe. I might be able to write a creed that said, exactly the right words, what I believed in that moment, but it would probably be outdated by the next week. Instead I come to church.”

Baptized and confirmed last year, Miranda shared that she comes to church with her family because she is welcomed as a questioner in a community where no one hesitates to reveal their doubts. She comes because of the community, the Holy Spirit. “Most of you are here, I’d guess, because you believe this component of the human experience is important and because it is something that is hard to access alone,” she said.

Product Description The Communion Host Dispenser offers a...

Thu, 09 May 2013 18:30:23 -0400

Product Description

The Communion Host Dispenser offers a touch-free solution to preparing and serving communion, helping to prevent the passing of germs. The Dispenser can reduce the cost by as much as 50 percent by reducing the time and personnel needed to prepare and serve communion all year long.

Small enough to be carried to homes, hospitals, senior living and care centers.
Dispenses up to 140 hosts before refilling
Available in silver-plated, 24K gold-plated and white.
2-year guarantee

…Yet another thing we can have gold or silver-plated.

Open to all religions? It's wiser to delve deeply into one

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:30:28 -0400

Open to all religions? It's wiser to delve deeply into one

“It is finished.” All that’s left is to walk...

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:08:08 -0400

“It is finished.” All that’s left is to walk across the stage. #seminary #graduation (at Virginia Theological Seminary)