Category Archives: Christian Faith

December 4, 2014 · 2:08 pm

Lo, Woe, Go . . . a Response of Advent

During these early days of Advent, as Thanksgiving has given way to Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, ushering in the secular season of sales and anxious economic forecasts; one is left to ponder another response. Rather than unleash the credit or debit card, joining the throngs of holiday consumers, why not recover a little of the spiritual side of the season?

This season of waiting, expecting and hoping is pregnant with promise. It draws us to the nativity story and its fascinating cast of characters. Among them we find the shepherds, the true working men of this tale. They, like the other characters, have a story to tell, and a particular angle from which to tell it. Do you remember the shepherds? These character actors are discovered in Luke 2 between verses 8 and 20. A description of their brief foray unto the Nativity stage might be summarized in the words “lo”, “woe” and “go”.

Having drawn our attention to these shepherds abiding, Luke, Continue reading →

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Filed under Christian Faith, Holy Days, Spiritual Formation

November 19, 2014 · 4:37 pm

Contentment

Ask an average group of people what it would take, financially or materially, for them to feel content and you are likely to get a wide range of answers. Some would probably indicate a salary figure or set of material assets that is somewhat beyond their current reality. Bigger house, larger paycheck, better benefits = contentment. Others might talk in terms of paying off debt or having a steady job. Still others might be in a place where they are able to say, “I am content. I want for nothing.” The point is that financial contentment is a very subjective thing, often defined by personal circumstances and histories.

When my wife and I were first married we were poor college students. Continue reading →

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September 7, 2011 · 6:00 pm

Where Were You?

This Sunday in worship at FBC Columbus we will play a video featuring Alan Jackson’s song Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning? as a call to reflection and prayer on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  It’s one of those questions most of us know the answer to: Where were you?

I was just dropping our youngest child (then two years old) off at the babysitter’s when we stopped to watch the images unfolding on the morning news program playing on television.  We stood there in her living room horror-struck as we (like many of you) witnessed the second plane slam into the other twin tower.  The world changed that day.   It’s hard to believe it has been ten years, but that two-year old is now almost as tall as her mother and has hardly known a world without the threat of terror.

It seems every generation has had their “where were you” question(s).  Where were you when . . . . Pearl Harbor was bombed? . . . President Kennedy was shot? . . . MLK was assassinated?. . . .  the Challenger exploded?  Sometimes we even turn the question around and ask it of God.  “Where were you, God?” is asked in a manner consistent with, “How could you let this happen?”. Continue reading →

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Filed under Christian Faith, Holy Days