Joy in the Journey

"If the Doctor is still the Doctor... he will have my back.” - Clara Oswald, Doctor's Who Companion, Doctor Who, Deep Breath, Series 8, Episode 1, 08/23/2014 BBC America Most people should be aware by now that I am a geek.  I freely admit it.  I can't hide it.  I have been one since my childhood and now that I am in my 50's, I finally feel like I don't have to hide it.  Not that I ever did.  Although there have been times when, as a Christian and Pastor, some might have wished that I had.  More than once, I have had to answer the questions: How can you watch that garbage?  Doesn't many of the themes and images of these types of shows upset you? Doesn't that stuff hurt your faith? I usually change the subject when these questions come up because I doubt that the one asking the questions truly cares to hear my answer.  They have already judged me by how they judge these shows.  It is the old guilty by association trap. Somewher...

What follows is an essay I wrote in the Spring of 2003 for the Systematic Theology Class of the Penn West Academy for Ministry. The relationship between faith and history is a turbulent one at the least.  Much like a pendulum, popular thought and theory tends to swing from one side to the other.  Beginning with the historical period called enlightenment, the relationship of these two schools became strained and set off a debate that still rages on in many to this day.  Faith in Jesus, in his teachings and his death and resurrection came under direct challenge as scholars began to rely on the supremacy of human intellect.   During this period scholars began to view the human ability to reason as perfect.  During this time great strides were being made in the sciences and the liberal arts.  Our ability to solve complex problems, to imagine, invent, create, and conquer brought about an idea that our ability to reason could solve every puzzle and ...

New music Monday - Thrive by Casting Crown http://youtu.be/qQ71RWJhS_M

Over the last twenty to thirty years or more, our society has become pluralistic.  We celebrate our diversity.    We highlight all the things that make us unique and different.   We go out of our way to show that it is our differences that make us special.   Today, personal aspects, once thought to be best hidden from the masses, are paraded with pride. We have learned over the years that differences in sex, race, creed, and sexual preference do not make anyone better or worse than another.  That is a positive change in our attitudes.  We have also learned that taken to the extreme, this idea can be just as harmful as the extreme at the other end of this pendulum.  I once watched a news report about women attempting to join a big city fire department.  One of the tests that all fire fighter candidates had to pass was the ability to throw a one hundred and fifty pound dummy over the shoulder and carry it to safety.  Some women ca...

What follows is an essay I wrote in May 2005 for my New Testament class.  I welcome your thoughts and comments. Are the Gospel’s trustworthy?  I have a hard time imagining my grandmother ever worrying about this question.   As a little boy growing up in the farm country of Central PA , my Sunday morning activities were predestined from my birth.   The only way I was able to miss Church and Sunday school was if I was so sick that I could not get out of bed.   In those early years of Childhood, my church family was for the most part, my paternal family.   Except for a couple of families, my extended family inhabited this little church in the country.   My Aunts and Uncles taught Sunday school classes, played the piano and made up the leadership of the church.   The choir was a family portrait of brothers and cousins of all ages and sizes.   At the head of this group was my grandmother.   I can still see her in her prayer pose, her hea...