I’d Love to Change the World

God has called us to participate in his work in the world.

What Is a Christian?

A Christian is someone who is following Jesus in God’s work of changing the world.

In Memory

My aunt Alice passed away today, Good Friday, 2009.

No Compromise? (part 2)

Our political climate is intolerant of compromise.  Two people who tried to bring people together are finding out how hard it is to do.
Richard Cizik tried to lead evangelical Christians to compassionate action on a broader range of problems than abortion and traditional marriage.  For example, he believed that if Christians believe in creation, they [...]

Give Your Possessions to the Poor and Drink the Best Wine First

Those two sayings sum up the life of following Jesus.  Jesus told a young rich man who wanted to follow him, to sell all his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor.  Why did he say that?
First, because the poor needed it.  The rich man wanted to sign up to assist Jesus in his [...]

Dobson and Obama

It used to be common for ministers to neglect their wives (ministers used to be mostly men in most denominations) and children while they were out doing “the Lord’s work.” James Dobson taught a generation of evangelical men that attending to the need of their wives and children was the Lord’s work, their first [...]

Summer of Love

The Summer After
(British Library display remembering 1968)
As the saying goes, if you remember it, you weren’t there. I was young enough in 1968 that I remember seeing the news on TV.
1967 had been proclaimed “The Summer of Love.” I remember hearing the song on the radio, “Are You Going to San Francisco? [...]

Traveling Mercies

If you have ever walked out on a speech by Tony Campolo, this book is not for you. Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies is one of the reading selections I brought along.
Anne grew up in San Francisco in the 60s and 70s with secular parents who were devoted to progressive causes. She did have [...]

F. F. Bruce

F.F.Bruce
I am about 17 miles from Elgin (hard ‘g’ as in again), the hometown of the world famous biblical scholar F. F. Bruce.
I am tempted to write an epic poem about “Frederick the Bruce.”
If my grasp of Gaelic and Doric advances at a miraculous pace, and if the Muse of history visits me–I just might [...]

Easter Wishes from Bonhoeffer

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Urban Legends

(Pictures from Snopes.com)
You gotta’ love urban legends. They make life so much more interesting. The problem is that most of them turn out to be false. Urban legends show how easily we accept as true anything we have heard–as long as it makes an interesting story and explains something.
Another habit [...]

Idolatry 1

I want to begin a series of posts on the topic of idolatry. The fact that idolatry is considered a sin in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity–maybe in some forms of other religions too–raises several interesting questions.
First, I want to point out what monotheism and the rejection of idolatry does not mean, at least in [...]

Night of Victories

After 39 years the Jayhawks finally won the Orange Bowl trophy. They didn’t have to use a 6-3-3 defence last night. Aqib Talib scored the first touch down by running back an intercepted pass. He displayed a little excessive exuberance “high-stepping” across the goal line, for which a penalty was added to [...]

A Setback

As far as I can tell, God’s favorite project is the human race.  I’m sure there are plenty of other things in the universe that interest him, but according to the testimonies of people who had an encounter with God, he has a personal investment in what happens on earth.  His project is that [...]

You Don’t Have to Call Me Doktor, Doktor . . .

I stumbled onto a blog called Daveblackonline this week–or maybe he stumbled onto mine first. He had noticed my “Theological German” site. I looked at his site and at first he seemed to be a southern preacher, a simple, honest straight shooter. I was somewhat surprised that he had an interest in [...]

Liberal Use of Water

OK, this is my third and final post on the air and water around Liberal, Kansas.
Southwestern Kansas is pretty dry. It would not be profitable at all for raising crops like corn, if it were not for irrigation. Underneath that all that flat land is not only oil and natural gas, but [...]

Three Tasks for Theology

When my brother-in-law was about five he used to love telling a knock-knock joke: Knock-knock. Who’s there? Amos. Amos who? Amos bit me!
Then he would roar with laughter. He thought it was hilarious. He didn’t realize he was leaving out an important syllable. The joke was supposed to be [...]

Mother Teresa’s Doubts

Mother Teresa’s letters, which are to be published by Doubleday next month as Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, reveal that she was tormented by doubt throughout her fifty years of ministry. The editor of the book believes that her doubts “maker her more human.” (For more, click here.)
Malcom Muggeridge came to faith [...]