News today says that a Dutch bishop has called for people of all faiths to refer to God as "Allah" as a way of easing religious tensions. "What does God care what we call him?" says Bishop Tiny Muskens. "It’s our problem." Well, if that’s the case, then how about calling him "Tiny?" Tabloids report …
As a pastor I’ve officiated at a lot of funerals, some for the "saints of the church" and some for people whom nobody really liked or cared about. Unlike a wedding where I’m very selective about the process and the people (neither I or the church are simply "vendors" for someone’s dream wedding), I’ll do …
I first read MacBeth, Shakespeare’s dark play, in high school and it has always been my favorite of the bard’s works. It’s a masterful study in human nature, particularly how humans cope with the consequences of their sins. You may remember that after the murder of Duncan, Lady MacBeth had a hard time keeping her …
I headed down to the valley last night to catch Rush’s latest tour. I’ve been to most every tour since the Signals album, which makes it about 25 years of seeing the Canadian trio on stage. Taking my friend and fellow rhythm section guy Steve with me, we settled in under a beautiful western sky …
Concert Review: RUSH–USANA Amphitheater, 8/6/07 Continue Reading »
Well, now that we’ve entered August we’re getting closer to the end of summer. In most ways that’s kind of sad. Summer here is just spectacular but way too short. In another sense, though, it’s good to see summer winding up, particularly if you still have kids at home. I don’t know about your house, …
Richard Winter’s book Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment really got me thinking about boredom. His basic premise is that despite the multitudinal menagerie of entertainment options in this culture, we’re a people who are more bored than ever. It’s not just the "ho-hum" kind of bored we’re talking about though. There’s a kind …
A news item today from Asia reports an outbreak of dengue fever–a misquito-borne virus that attacks the joints and causes a great deal of pain. It’s not nearly as deadly as malaria, the real misquito-related killer, but it’s still a nasty disease affecting people in some of the most remote and impoverished parts of the …
Add me to the list of people who think that Hank Aaron should remain the home run king even after Barry Bonds breaks the record sometime in the coming week. My beef with Bonds goes way back before the alleged-but-you-gotta-believe-he-did-it steroid flap. Bonds was with my hometown Pirates back in the early 90s when they …
Reading the newspaper this week it struck me that we’re living in a culture that seems to be increasingly criminal—well, at least as far as celebrities and sports figures are concerned. Just this week we’ve seen Michael Vick, quarterback for the Falcons, indicted on charges that he was involved in dogfighting. Then there was the …
Good News for Gomers (Sermon for 7/29/07) Continue Reading »
The family and I are up in Garden City, UT for a couple of days enjoying some camping in the trailer and hitting the beach at Bear Lake, the "Caribbean of the Rockies." If you’ve never been up here, this is one of those best-kept secret kind of places, though this time it appears the …
In what has become a daily occurence, we were greeted again this morning with another celebrity mugshot straight from the LAPD. Lindsay Lohan has lost her Disney-fied and dignified image in a recent bout of DUIs, rehab, and relapse. Here’s a kid who’s only 21 and partying her life away. Michael Vick, quarterback for the …
A Wild and Precious Life Luke 10:38-42 We went back home to western Pennsylvania for our vacation which meant that much of our time was spent going to family reunions. My Aunt Dee is most famous for hosting one of these every year at her farm, which was always one of my favorite places to …
A Wild and Precious Life (Sermon for 7/22/07) Continue Reading »
The release of the final book in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series happened today and my family has already procured a copy. I’m not as big a Potter fan as the rest of the fam, but I have become fairly familiar with the story. Harry Potter has, of course, been somewhat controversial in Christian circles …
Greeting my eyeballs when I logged on this morning was this piece on MSN that shows the apparent social benefits of gossip–well, that is, only the "good" kind of gossip that shares good news and builds relationships. Researchers determined that people get pleasure out of sharing juicy tidbits about someone else. Well, duh, that’s no …
OK, I heard this ad on the radio today for a new coffee shop in Salt Lake called "Jack Mormon Coffee. I nearly wrecked the truck laughing at the tag line: "Jack Mormon Coffee: Coffee worth roasting for." Gotta love some holy humor!