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Christ Has Died. Christ Is Risen. Christ Will Come Again.
Christ Has Died. Christ Has Risen. Christ Will Come Again. These are the words I repeat with our community of Christ-followers each time we gather to observe communion. They have come to mean something endearing to me, more than ritual recitation. They echo what has happened, and they speak to what will happen. This Thursday my mind dwells on the last supper our Lord had with His disciples and the events that took place Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so long ago. I grew up hearing the stories of faith from my family and another community of believers. Friday morning coffee brought the story of Jesus’ suffering. How He’d been…
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The Power of “Withness”
The day after Easter, our beloved Golden Retriever Calvin, only seven years old (that’s mid-life in dog years) had to be put to sleep because of cancer that had been sucking the life out of him. When our son and his wife moved from Texas to California, they were forced to leave him behind because their housing does not allow dogs, and Calvin became my husband’s dog. Calvin was the exact same shade of red as our Irish Setter, who died seventeen months ago. When we had to put Pele down, there was another big red dog in the house. But not yesterday. Or today. And it’s painful. Ray has…
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E…A…S…T…E…R
As we prepare for Resurrection Sunday, what do you believe? Do you believe that Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins and then rose again on the third day? For me, this is what I believe and I will celebrate Easter this way: Those who believe in His Death and Resurrection have: Everlasting Live Jesus defeated death for all those who believe in Him. My home is not this earth…it is in heaven with Him forever. Those who rejoice in His Death and Resurrection have: …
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“The Days That Were Ordained for Me”
With 350 days left in 2014 we assume we will have tomorrow and the next day and the next – anticipated, possibly pressured filled days; relaxing, unstructured days; days to study, learn and earn and serve others in; days that we might continue living life in. The year lies before us – 350 days to be exact. These are days we count on to do the things we were not able to do yesterday or last week or last month; days to serve God in here on earth; days to cherish the loved ones present and alive. We make assumptions. But – will we have those days? We will…
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The Real Truthiness of Stories that Have Changed the World
An October, 1998 Time magazine cover article, “War on Gays,” declared, “What people mean when they say Matthew Shepard's murder was a lynching is that he was killed to make a point…he was stretched along a Wyoming fence…as a signpost. 'When push comes to shove,' it says, 'this is what we have in mind for gays.'" But what if, as a new bombshell book contends, it wasn’t so much a hate crime, but rather a drug crime? Also in 1998 two Texas men were arrested for having sex in their own bedroom. The Supreme Court’s ruling on the case, Lawrence v. Texas, affirmed the right of gay couples to have…
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What Can We Make of Jesus, but God Incarnate? (A Christian Conservative Goes to College, part 17)
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58).[1] The World Religions’ Professor’s assignment read as follows: What’s the best word to describe Jesus? Prophet, Avatar (of the Hebrew God), or Bodhisattva? Well, I was not going to be forced into the professor’s definitions….
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How Well Do You Know…HIM?
How well do you know HIM? He is the resurrection and the reason we have hope of everlasting live. Jesus Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and He said it is finished, but on the third day He rose again…Great News for all of mankind…Now He lives in heaven sitting at the right hand of God…As we approach Resurrection Sunday, I would like to encourage those of you who work with children to ask them the following questions…
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Mary’s Little Lamb
“Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb…Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow; and everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went…everywhere that Mary went that lamb was sure to go.”
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The Tsunami, Birth Pains, Death, and the End of Days
“The world existing at that time was destroyed when it was deluged with water. But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Peter 3:6-7).