Deus Misereatur

  (The picture of Jeremiah was done by Guy Rowe, 1949, Lithograph Print) This morning I was reading Jeremiah chapters 41-42, and then John 5:30-47. What I noticed was the way of the people in both places, their attitudes and actions, rationalizations and resistance. And the parallels caused me to pray. It is a responding prayer, responding to God's word. It is a prayer for myself, my family, my church, my friends, and my fellow ministers. Here is my responding prayer. The people that our Lord spoke to (John 5:30-47) are following the pattern of the people Jeremiah spoke to (Jeremiah 41-42). O God, they will not listen to your word!!!! In fact, (1) the love of God is not in them (John 5:42); (2) they do not seek the honor, praise, glory that come from you but only what will come from men (John 5:44); (3) your word they do not have abiding in them (John 5:38); and (4) in reading Scripture, they read without you and without believing in you (John 5:38-40, 46-47). O my dear God! O our ...

  Far as the Curse is Found: Ecclesiastes and the Man of Sorrows William Price ISBN: 9781098349967; ASIN : B08PZJTDYV; December 2020; Kindle: $9.99   I love working with wood. Whether it’s stripping down a limb to bare wood so I can make a cane, or refurbishing, repairing and repurposing older furniture pieces. Therefore, I was delighted when I opened up the brand new 170-page volume “Far as the Curse is Found: Ecclesiastes and the Man of Sorrows” and read, “Ecclesiastes is paint stripper for the soul” (xx and 99). William Price, a humble PhD and elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, has crafted a fine dossier on the feel, flow, and affect of the biblical book “Ecclesiastes”. It is written for young adults, seasoned disciples, and pastors to digest and relish. It’s a strong tonic, gently administered, that will leave readers reflecting on life, death, futility, and hope.   The volume is not a commentary. It is more an artful summarization of key th...

 [Martin Luther was once asked by his barber for a prayer guide. Luther wrote him a short manual that encouraged him to use the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, but also the Apostles' Creed as outlines for prayer, and then he gave him examples. Today's congregational prayer uses the Apostles' Creed to shape our prayers] Since you are God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth , we pray for your creation and creatures whom you made, and whom you sustain. Please continue to supply the showers and rainfalls we need and thank you for what has been provided already. Replenish our resources and reserves. Preserve our continent from fires, floods, plagues and pestilence. Please continue your kindnesses to our country and shine the light of your mercy on all nations of this world. Relieve us from this pandemic and grant us to recover from its consequences. Bring all peoples to recognize that in you we live and move and have our being. Bring kindness and care to...

When reading Scripture as part of times for prayer, thoughts jump out at me, sometimes energetically, and other times subtly. That slow, simmering thing happened this morning, and I share it with you. I was reading Jeremiah 23 and the whole chapter gave me pause, but especially v.3-4: " Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the LORD " (Jeremiah 23:3-4). In the Hebrew Scriptures, the concept of shepherds is normally a title given to civil leaders - judges, magistrates and priests. It might include prophets as well. The idea is that the leaders of God's people often guide their charges in ways that are similar to shepherds herding and caring for their sheep. Therefore, it's fitting for us to thin...

  Maybe not the most finely written piece, but the story is deeply touching. Carson's life is a tale of overcoming this obstacle and that snag. As he puts it at the end of his autobiography, if we choose to see these obstacles on our life path as barriers, as insurmountable impediments placed in our way by others, then we'll stop trying. "However, if we chose to see the obstacles as hurdles, we can leap over them. Successful people don't have fewer problems. They have determined that nothing will stop them from going forward" (224). The whole book is Carson chronicling his dogged persistence to jump those hurdles, beginning with his mother's struggles. It is an encouraging read. "Gifted Hands" is worthwhile for any and all. If a reader can momentarily set aside their political allegiances, their denominational pride, their Critical Race Theories, Intersectionality, psychological conjectures, sociological suppositions, etc. and just let the story wash...

A book about the underdog. The advantage of the powerful is often disadvantageous; and the disadvantage of the weak may actually be advantageous! And each story - whether David and Goliath, Huguenots and Nazis, or Goure and Kellen, and every subject - from education, foreign policy, or criminology, depicts Gladwell's point. The author is a masterful craftsman, who usually makes his case in brilliant fashion, though I personally didn't like where he went in some recitations. Nevertheless, the volume will stick with me, and the perspective painted in this manuscript will remain etched in colorful detail in my memory. It is a book worth reading.

  Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity - and Why This Harms Everybody . Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay Pitchstonebooks.com ISBN: 9781634312028; $27.95; August 2020 It was refreshing to watch! The Enlightenment sparring with Postmodernism! Classic Liberalism taking on Social Justice Theory! Secularism scrapping it up with Critical Theory Authoritarianism! And what a match it was. Essayist, James Lindsay, and writer, Helen Pluckrose, who were leading lights in the 2018 grievance studies affair probe, pulled together long hours and research and presented them to the reading public recently in their 352-page hardback, “Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity – and Why This Harms Everybody.” This well documented tome is written with an even hand that gives judicious thinkers truck loads of material for perceiving the modern moment and helping to fathom what has happened and is h...