There are several challenging passages in the Bible where we learn what God hates. These are hard to square for all of us who know and pray to a loving God. How could God who Himself is love-hate-which seems love’s very opposite? Well just as bright light casts a shadow, so is love accompanied by…
We had guests recently with four boys aged eight to eighteen. The youngest boy literally learned to swim, and enjoyed it, by being thrown in the deep end and then rescued by his brothers. This way of learning doesn’t suit everyone, some people like myself much prefer to wade into things rather than be thrown…
Today’s feast is nothing less than our yearly, tangible reminder of who belongs in first place. In the blessing of the grapes we carry on the Old Testament commandment of God that whatever is first; first born child, first born animal, first fruits of harvest, these belong to God. As grapes were always the first…
I was getting an oil change for the church car last week and by the garage across the street I saw a sign ‘Free brake check, stop by if you can!’ It gave me a laugh and then gave me pause to reflect on a theme of all our readings of these past weeks. The…
Last weekend I attended my nephew’s high school graduation. He’s off to college, and understandably at his age, not sure what career he wants to pursue. One thing he says he knows for sure, is that his career will not involve mathematics. At one point he was into the sciences, but just didn’t like or…
‘Can I, can I, can I….’ If you are a parent or spent any time around kids, you have been through this phase with your children. It seems from our youngest days we are hardwired to seek and test the boundaries of what we can and can’t do; it’s how we learn and grow and…
We have a strong system of higher education in the United States, which also has significant problems in need of reform. The most obvious problem we all see about college is its price tag. ‘College is the opposite of kidnapping. They demand $100,000 from you or else they’ll send your kid back!’ College gets lots…