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Red rose symbolizing martyrdom

IN MEMORY OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER (1906-1945)

The red rose is the symbol for Christians who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their Lord.  This month is the seventy-sixth anniversary of the murder of Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, on April 9th, 1945, presumably on the personal order of Adolph Hitler. Few contemporary ministers of the Gospel have had to labor under such difficult circumstances as this man, and who lost his life before his fortieth birthday. The eulogy is in memory of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945.) Early life Dietrich Bonhoeffer...

Has your faith become a spectator sport? Watching from afar

HAS YOUR FAITH BECOME A SPECTATOR SPORT?

There are a lot of things that most—though not all–Christians in America are vocal about. Many of us have no trouble telling people what our favorite football team is.  Very few of us would hide the news that our son was accepted into Harvard, our daughter had married into a wealthy family, or that we had received a prestigious promotion at work.  If you meet a famous athlete, television star or singer, you tend to drop their name to your friends repeatedly,...

Office dude with briefcase chasing cars

CHASING CARS

People dream. Some people dream of fame. Take the Beatles. Just as the face of Helen of Troy is said to have launched a thousand ships, the Beatles launched as many bands, especially their premier on the Ed Sullivan Show. Some of these bands and artists are household names: The Mamas and Papas, Kiss, the Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Heart, the Pixies, Bruce Springsteen and many, many more. But fame ultimately does not satisfy and it comes at the cost of...

Troubled waters during the French and Indian War

WE VISIT FORT WILLIAM HENRY

The Seven Years’ War is not very well known in this country. Winston Churchill called it “The first World War” since it was actually fought on five different continents.  It’s difficult to point to a single event that historians agree was the casus belli.  Was it the Prussian invasion of Saxony in Europe?  A dispute over the boundaries of Arcadia? A skirmish, perhaps, in western Pennsylvania between British forces who were badly-led by a twenty-two-year-old officer named George Washington in which a French envoy...

Serene pool with waterfall in the Catskill mountains

A CATSKILL MOUNTAIN HOMECOMING

“Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains; and they are regarded by all the good...

Welcome sign at Bowdoin College

AN ACCOUNT OF OUR VISIT TO BOWDOIN COLLEGE

Deena and I are about to commemorate our first year in quarantine.  It actually started in mid-March, 2020, after I got back from a visit to Texas.  She and I have been pretty faithful about observing the restrictions.  It’s not just that we’re both over 65 and a virus like this might set us down for the count.  The other half of the equation is that we don’t want to spread the virus to other people who might become gravely ill because of our...

Family emerges from quarantine

AFTER THE PANDEMIC ENDS (PART I)

At some point in the future, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic will end. Even now there are signs of hope as the food lines and testing lines are rivaled by people waiting patiently in a line for a vaccine.  The flu pandemic of 1918 lasted for two years and two months, and currently we are entering the second year of the current pandemic.  The longer this pandemic continues, the more our society will change, the greater the change and more permanent the change we’ll...

My Journey with Cancer Part 2. Cancer cells dividing.

MY JOURNEY WITH CANCER (PT 2)

To jump to the most current post, click HERE Welcome to Part 2 of my blog post My Journey With Cancer. I’m blogging daily with no understanding of when or how my journey will end. It might be ten years from now or it may be much sooner. But then, again, does anyone know the measure of time they been apportioned on Earth? And what is time? And what happens to us when that time runs out? The reason I...

Infant being baptized

A BRIEF COMMENT ON INFANT BAPTISM

  • February 5, 2021
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  • Faith

What a long, strange trip it’s been I typically try to avoid discussions on issues that divide Christians (such as who can receive communion and the meaning and mode of baptism), because individual denominations have taken stands one way or another and the debate can be heated, tiring, and totally unpersuasive.  So, rather than go into the subject of infant baptism root and branch, let me explain in general terms how I evolved from disdaining infant baptism to embracing, or at...

Girl looking out a window with gentle rain falling

THE QUALITY OF MERCY

  • February 3, 2021
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  • Faith

PORTIA:  “The quality of mercy is not strained:it drops on to the world as the gentle rain does – from heaven.It’s doubly blessed. It blesses both the giver and the receiver.It’s most powerful when granted by those who hold power over othersIt’s more important to a monarch than his crown.His sceptre shows the level of his temporal power –The symbol of awe and majesty in which lies the source of the dreadand fear that kings command.But mercy is above that sceptered power.It’s enthroned in the hearts of kings.It...

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