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On Being the Church of Jesus Christ in Tumultuous Times
This collection of essays, sermons, and prayers urges the church today to "be the sort of community that sustains a vigorous and continuing conversation within itself as to who has called it into being, to whom it is responsible, and what it is called to be and to do."…
Owen Died, K Died, Bodies Age, Madge Writes a Christmas Letter, and Life Lurches On [2/18/12]
Dear Friends:
Sometime ago, Owen, a member of our Sunday School class, died. He was born the same year as I, 1936. I had only been acquainted with Owen for about 8 years, but long enough to have observed sadly his decline in health. I make no claim to have known Owen well or to be in possession of any profound insights into his particular decline in health, except to say that most in the class were not surprised by his death. We all knew death would not be long delayed.
As to be expected, his funeral was held in our church sanctuary, was modestly attended, and was respectful, even though scant use was made of Methodist funeral liturgies. But at one point a slideshow was presented displaying a host of photographs of Owen at various ages in his life and under many different circumstances. While I confess that such slideshows at past funerals have been generally burlesque and distasteful, this one overwhelmed me with an astonishing realization—the photos of Owen from his twenties to his fifties were of a man I did not recognize. That handsome, attractive, energetic, and engaging man…
Friends: In a widely circulated Christmas letter, Sarah and I announced another big transition in our lives that might explain my absence from blogging since late September of 2011. Here is a portion of that letter: We greet you with that joy and thanksgiving that is rooted in an overflowing gratitude for the simple but profound gift of God’s tabernacling among us in Christ Jesus and sanctifying thereby the gifts of life, of family, of friendships near and far, and of friendships from the distant past and friendships recent and ripe. In the flow of such gratitude, Joe plunged into 75 and Sarah glided into 73 this past year: older?—yes! wiser?—perhaps! robust of body?—perhaps not! robust of spirit?—a work in progress! In 2000 we retired to Anchor Point, our family cabin since 1970 right on the shore of Ft. Gibson Lake in eastern Oklahoma. Eagles often greet us in the large tree just 30 yards from our living room windows. Fish have been known to sometimes bite our lures, and foxes and deer sleep on our lawns. But we are remote from towns and medical institutions, and we spend much time…
Dear Friends: On September 24, 2001, I wrote A Letter to the Churches After 9/11 that was widely circulated around the net, later appeared in my book, On Being the Church of Jesus Christ in Tumultuous Times [Cascade Books, 2005], and is also posted on this site. In the last couple of weeks, we—the people of Nation America— have staggered through the various solemn commemorations and ceremonies that testify to the continuing pathos of death, fear, loss, heroism, resolve, and hope that will not let us either forget or quite embrace the shattering effects of the events on September 11, 2001. I would remind my friends that the letter was written for and to the “churches” and not to the ‘nation.’ But there were here and there worrying comments about the nation and especially the likelihood of our going to a war that will reverberate with national and international consequences for decades or centuries long after the war might be declared concluded. Well, sadly the war goes on in Afghanistan and Iraq, though slowing down, we hope. But surely there is nary a person reading this blog who is suffering under…
Friends: On October 10-12, 2011, my Yale Divinity School B.D Class of 1961 will meet at Yale to celebrate our 50th year reunion. In preparation for the event, the Class Planning Committee decided to establish a web site and invite all of our class to post reflections on 'how my mind has changed since then' in the interest of having a stimulating discussion among ourselves at the reunion. Recognizing the built in limitations of space, I share here my posting for my class colleagues. I am sure there are matters discussed herein that are unknown to many of my friends. Of course, comments are always welcome. Joe Dear Colleagues of the YDS Class of 1961: The invitation to members of the YDS Class of 1961 to post on this web site some reflections about early 60s aspirations in relation to the present situation—however we might define ‘the present situation’—is a welcome and forbidding task. Not the least of the forbidding is that this site is unprepared for a book and my classmates are wisely uneager to read such and I am incapable of writing such. So, some notes on traversing from…
Dear Friends: In a previous blog posting I mentioned and tried to address some concerns of Tom, my dear childhood friend. We lived in the same neighborhood in Oklahoma City, played organized baseball through grade school, junior high, and high school. In high school he also starred in football and I started in basketball. Until we were old enough to do work-for-pay in the summer, we would lounge around with Jim B and Bob M in the afternoons listening to major league baseball games—which we were convinced were being broadcast live right there from the stadium of action. I haven’t seen Tom face to face in years. He now lives in El Paso, Texas and I on Ft. Gibson Lake in Oklahoma—some 900 miles apart. But without extinguishing our childhood affections and loyalties, Tom thinks of himself as on the ‘right’ politically and of me as on the ‘left.’ We have been caught sending newspaper articles to each other reflective of our presumed right/left inclinations. I worry about him watching too much of that ‘crazy, rightwing Fox News,’ with Hannity and Beck [though Beck is now on another channel]. And he worries about…
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In Transition but Hopeful [2/13/12]
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A Letter to the Churches After 9/11/2011 [9/25/11]
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A YDS Reflection: Remembrance of Things Past and the Present Discontent [9/19/11]
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Right/Left, Republican/Democrat, FoxNews/NYTimes,Conservative/Liberal, Tom and Joe [9/5/11]
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