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Soul Searching: We Are the Church, but Not a Mob

1 Comment / Church, Citizenship, Current Events, Evangelicals and Politics / By /

Part 4 in a series of reflections on the Capitol insurrection and Christians’ participation Christians congregate in worshiping communities called churches. Some churches are small (in fact, most are) and some are large. Their purpose is to practice the sort of fellowship in which people worship God, learn the content of their faith, grow in love for one another, and pool their resources for ministry in the “mission field” around them. The Church (capital C) is the collective fellowship of all such groups and denominations of believers around the world and over time. The Church exists to embody Jesus to […]

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Soul Searching: I Am a Citizen with a Dual Passport [The Inherent Conflict between Subjection to Civil Authorities and Obedience to God]

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Part 3 in a series of reflections on the Capitol insurrection and Christians’ participation A biblical foundation for understanding the Christian’s proper relationship to governing authorities and politics will give us strength to hold to positions that may be unpopular with the current version of evangelical Christianity in America. In my previous two posts, I cited Old Testament historical moments and a simple observation from the New Testament (NT) gospel to start the conversation. Today, let’s look at a few more NT data points that will enable us to bring the mess to order and figure out how we should

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Soul Searching: God’s People and the Quest for a Supportive Government

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Part 2 in a series of reflections on the Capitol insurrection and Christians’ participation Our essential task is to establish a biblical point of view regarding the Christian’s relationship with government and politics. For this, we must start in the Old Testament at the point Israel—God’s chosen people—was establishing itself as a land and a people. The conquest of the land of Canaan (generally what we name the country of Israel today) took place after the Israelites had wandered in the Sinai desert for forty years. God, through the leader Moses, had led them out of slavery in Egypt, across

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Soul Searching: I Am an Evangelical, but Not That Kind

4 Comments / Evangelicals and Politics, Uncategorized / By /

Part 1 of a series of reflections on the Capitol insurrection and Christians’ participation Here in California, I was glued to my television after hearing radio news reports about what was happening at the Capitol on Wednesday, January 6. Indelibly etched in my memory is the waving of an orange “Jesus” flag and other displays of “Christian” presence. The fact that some of those flags made it up the steps of the Capitol building demonstrates that self-identified Christians were in the thick of things that day, not innocent or passive bystanders in a peaceful demonstration, as some claim. I was

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You Who Have Ears to Hear, Please Listen!

Leave a Comment / Church, Citizenship, Personal, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

I’ve had a weird week dealing with a plugged ear. At first, I thought wax had accumulated, so I started the drops and flushing routine for a few days, but heard no improvement. We’re talking totally blocked hearing in my right ear. My efforts now focus on reducing nasal congestion, and a strong decongestant seems to be breaking it up a little. I’m told it could be up to two weeks before it resolves! Meanwhile, I have experienced some of the oddities and embarrassments that hard-of-hearing folks have told me about in my pastoral travels. “Talk into my good ear—don’t

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Deep Breathing in the Battle

Leave a Comment / Anxiety, Personal, Spiritual Battle, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

Quite often when I am visiting a patient at the hospital, we become aware of a persistent beep from the vital signs monitor. The patient’s pulse oximeter is registering a low blood oxygen level, usually a dip below 90% (98-100% is normal). The patient will sometimes crimp the sensor taped to a finger or “forget” to breathe during conversation! The beep is a prompt to take a few good, deep breaths, and almost without fail the O2 number climbs back up into normal range. We can continue our visit without further interruption. A persistent beep has been going off for

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Deep Breathing through a Bad Air Day

1 Comment / Anxiety, Current Events, Personal, Prayer, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

The San Francisco Bay Area, where I live, has been in the national news of late, due to the lightning-sparked wildfires consuming our state. Our region is surrounded by record-setting fires, and as a result our air has become smoky. The Air Quality Index (AQI) has for days been in the “hazardous for all people” range, with a few respites in the evening as winds change. As a lung cancer survivor, minus one lung lobe and afflicted with asthma, I am hunkerin’ down at home with the A/C and fan running night and day, sealed against the hazy soup that

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Book Launch Is Underway!

Leave a Comment / Book: Deep Breathing / By /

The steps toward publishing my first book Deep Breathing: Finding Calm amid Cancer Anxiety are accelerating to a run these days! The book has been a long time comin’ . . . the original journal during my six-month cancer adventure in 2013-14 had to be whittled from 140,000 words to 80,000 for publication—no small feat, and I had lots of help! Currently, I am rereading it in its various formats to give final approval for ePUB and Kindle, as well as the print version. The mechanics of getting a book in the hands of an intended audience have many moving

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Christian Faith Stands the Test of Time

2 Comments / Personal, Romans 8, Testimony / By /

A milestone offers me the opportunity to give witness to God’s faithfulness. Fifty years ago today, I surrendered to Jesus Christ, actively received his salvation and indwelling Holy Spirit, and committed my life to serving him. This after six months of resistance following a sermon of invitation I heard in Seattle in January of 1970. The problem was pride, conceit, self-sufficiency, and fear within me, preventing me from trusting God with my life. But the pursuit was on, and finally I just gave up because God wouldn’t let it rest. I was in high school at the time, and new

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Holy Saturday: What If Jesus Had Never Been Raised?

1 Comment / Anxiety, Easter, Holy Week, Lent, Spiritual Disciplines / By /

As a teenager, I played the organ weekly for my large Catholic parish. Steeped in the rituals of Holy Week, my musical participation was the means for experiencing the events we were commemorating. One particular year, after the demands of Holy Week had run their course through Good Friday, I came into the church on Saturday to practice my pieces for Easter morning. In the Catholic tradition, at the conclusion of the Good Friday service the church sanctuary is stripped of all ornamentation. The candles are extinguished and the Sacrament is removed from the building. Empty of worshipers on Holy

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