An Interfaith Christian Ministry In The Missouri Ozarks

O give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good;
for God’s steadfast love endures forever.

- Psalm 107:1

COMMENTARY:

We must always guard our hearts and minds, and never forget the love of God for his creation, but we must also be resolute in our convictions to separate the meanings of spiritual love and carnal love, ever remembering both are wonderful gifts from God but each have their own proper place, boundaries and practice.

With children, you must mix gentleness with firmness. They must not always have their own way. Give to a pig when it grunts and to a child when it cries, and you will have a fine pig and a spoiled child. Unless we look well to it, our children will be a nuisance to others…… Charles Spurgeon

COMMENTARY:

The concept of a “spoiled brat” is not limited to adolescent children but can be as well applied to grown adults. Just as a spoiled child cries to manipulate its parents or guardians to get it’s way, adults often cry out baseless innuendos, in effect claiming betrayal, thereby preying on the sensitivity of those they seek to control.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” Bishop Desmond Tutu

• Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth. I do not sit with deceitful men, nor do I consort with hypocrites; I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked. I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, O LORD, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells. Do not take away my soul along with sinners, my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are wicked schemes, whose right hands are full of bribes. But I lead a blameless life; redeem me and be merciful to me. My feet stand on level ground; in the great assembly I will praise the LORD. Psalm 26 NIV

Daily we hear of horror stories told by those that escaped from legalistic controlling congregations or from the clutches of false prophets masquerading as ministers, either situation being one in which the absence of the truth of Christ’s teachings is in itself an indictment of those that would lead astray or those that blindly follow mindlessly and without questioning. Ironically those with the fortitude to question, are the first to suffer reproach and estrangement from those they thought were their friends.

• The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Moreover he must have good testimony from them that are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. 1 Timothy 3: 1&7

{We use 1 Timothy 3: 1&7 in the context that when married, a Bishop is expected by society, to remain monogamous regardless of the gender of the persons in the relationship}

It’s all in how you look at it.

When I was born in 1957, Dad was 69 and Mom 40 years old, and as you might imagine all of their friends were in the same age group.  People that experienced WW1, the twenties, the depression, the “dust bowl days,” and WW2.  They had first hand knowledge of what life in rural America was like in those years, and when these folks got together and started reminiscing about the hard times and good times of those bygone eras, I listened. [Read more →]

As many of you who know me are aware, I like to use scenes from movies, popular culture so to speak, as analogies to further illustrate the topics I address in my homilies, sermons, and editorials. In this light, at times such as this, I am reminded of the scene near the end of the movie Ghost Busters (#1) [Read more →]

[NOTE: This piece was originally prepared as a sermon for the Interfaith Live 365 Radio Network in 2004, but the concepts outlined are relevant today as more and more people are speaking out against the excesses of minority groups in the Christian Faith today that are giving the Christian faith a bad name.]

In the media each day, we hear reports of how some group has demeaned our faith in some form or fashion in such a way that had that group perpetrated the same offensive against a minority or other faith, the group would have drawn the wrath of the media and the powers that be. To understand why we as a faith are being attacked, we must take a moment to consider one of the basic elements of psychology, in that there is a difference in how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us.  You see, the actions of the few reflect upon the many, thereby causing those outside of our faith to see us differently than we really are. [Read more →]

• In the former part of this chapter (Galatians 5) the apostle cautions the Galatians to take heed of the judaizing teachers, who endeavored to bring them back under the bondage of the law.  Christians (are not) under any obligation to submit to it, therefore he would have them to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and not to be again entangled with the yoke of bondage. Here observe, under the gospel we are enfranchised, we are brought into a state of liberty, wherein we are freed from the yoke of the ceremonial law and from the curse of the moral law; so that we are no longer tied to the observance of the one, nor tied up to the rigor of the other, which curses every one that continues not in all things written therein to do them,  We owe this liberty to Jesus Christ. It is he who has made us free; [Read more →]

The root of the word “religion” is usually traced to the Latin religare (re: back, and ligare: to bind), so that the term is associated with “being bound.” The idea may reflect a concept prominent in biblical literature. Israel was said to be in a “covenant” (brith) relationship with its God (Yahweh). In a sense, the nation was “covenanted” or “bonded” to the deity. But what does being bound or bonded mean? Is a slave who is bound or bonded to his or her master in a “religious” relationship? Is a business agreement which binds partners in a legal covenant a form of “religious” binding? [Read more →]

Unless you have been totally absorbed in other pursuits, it has been hard not to notice the rhetoric, both pro and con, debating the need for or the validity of an emerging Christianity, a change in the paradigm, a change in the direction of the wind, a new Christianity, which in some cases is a return to the old Christianity that existed during the first three centuries before the advent of the “universal” church and the nearly 1100 Protestant and Catholic sects that have evolved from that original institution over the last 1700 years.  [Read more →]