DEAR PARENTS… PART Three: attendance, participation & liturgy
Continue reading DEAR PARENTS… PART Three: attendance, participation & liturgy
I remember an old grandfather, God repose his soul, at my church growing up. He used to say Our Father so slowly compared to the rest of the congregation, and it was not because he lacked English skills. He simply refused to rush prayer, and he had a hearing problem.
This is part two of a series to dialogue with parents AND kids, on issues that we see in the service. Please, let’s interact. What’s worked in your home? What didn’t work? What are the problems/causes of our issues.
Continue reading Dear Parents… Part Two: Prayer
Continue reading Q&A: Why am I not allowed to believe in [science]?
The following is an excerpt from Yann Martel’s, Life of Pi, when the protagonist has finished telling his extraordinary tale of survival:
“If you stumble at mere believability, what are you living for? Isn’t love hard to believe?”
“Mr. Patel–”
“Don’t you bully me with your politeness! Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?”
“We’re just being reasonable.”
“So am I! I applied my reason at every moment. Reason is excellent for getting food, clothing and shelter. Reason is the very best tool kit. Nothing beats reason for keeping tigers away. But be excessively reasonable and you risk throwing out the universe with the bathwater.”
I have hesitated at doing what I want to do in this “story” that I’m going to tell. I wanted to bring some of the Theology of books like “On the Incarnation”, while retelling the stories and traditions that we have received from the Holy Bible. In doing this there was a great fear that using the word ‘story’ might reduce the Truths that these stories hold to being mere tale-telling, fiction. That somehow the “story” would become less believable because it’s a ‘story’.
Yet, to borrow again a concept from Yann Martel, it’s like what I am trying to say is, “let me tell you a story that even though it is not true, it is true”. What I mean here, is that while I might give characters life or create a dialogue between them, give them new names or new looks, the story underneath it is a true story. Stories are valuable for us to understand truths. This has been the tradition of humanity since we were capable of communication.
The mere recounting of an experience is the telling of a story, and consequently, we ought not to look at story-telling with contempt. Story-telling does not make belief laughable, as story-telling is what all humans are doing all over the world, all the time. That does not make their stories false.
I want this story to be simple, because our story is simple. Our God issimple. The Covenant is simple. I want anyone of any age to understand the foundations and promises of Love.
I will begin with some foundational blocks before going into recounting the stories of humanities encounters with our God. Feel free to send feedback, or to request elaborations on concepts.
Chapter 1: Beginnings
Chapter 2: The Ministers & the Chief of Ministers
Chapter 3: The people, the Gift and the Purpose.
Pray for me.
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It’s a story that we have heard so many times, but it’s one that never gets old: the Prodigal Son. It’s the story of a dad’s love. A dad who worked hard, like we all do today, to provide food, sustenance, security and love to his family.
Continue reading Family, Fast food and the Prodigal Son
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Identity, heritage, and history are being annihilated brutally and rapidly, while the world shakes its head, then returns to dinner and Facebook browsing.
Continue reading ISIS, Lincoln and a Lamb: Why history matters.
Q: To be honest, I’ve never really read the Bible much and I want to get more into it. Do you have any tips or guidelines on how to go about this?
Continue reading Q&A: How do I start getting into the Bible?
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Haters vs other Haters, Atheists vs. Christians, Evolution vs Creation, Science vs. Religion…why the drama? This posting is based on a dialogue with someone sceptical of aspects of Christianity who watched a video of Christians making fools of atheists for their ignorance of science…This post discusses issues of: science vs religion, ridiculing one another, the place of the Bible in all of this, and whether or not pointing out how stupid everyone is, is actually helpful.
Continue reading Letter to a friend: Dear haters, hating doesn’t answer anything.