Pray Without Ceasing

  It's one thing to say you're a Christian. It's another to act like one. What this means is not necessarily blessing people continually and saying you'll pray for them, or even radical acts of compassion in the manner of the Good Samaritan. Instead it is those day-to-day choices we make which test whether or not we really are followers of Christ. Take the local story here in Columbus of the "thrift-store Picasso," which is still making national news. Nobody in the story has said anything about religion, but choices made and words uttered are still instructive because any of us might find ourselves in a similar situation. In yesterday's update , the purchaser finally sold the piece to an anonymous local buyer and netted a tidy sum of $6,985.85. However, even though the original owner who donated the print to the thrift store has come forward, no mention has been made of the purchaser splitting his profit with that person. How easy this would have be...

The violence continues to escalate in Afghanistan in response to a few US soldiers' inadvertent, but certainly ill-advised, burning of religious material. Reporting in the mainstream press has been guarded on these developments in terms of what they signify, but digging into reader comments sometimes reveals nuggets of wisdom. Such was the case with yesterday's story in the New York Times about another deadly incident of violence in response to the Koran burnings. Reader William Gill of Montgomery, Ala.wrote: "What I want to observe is this: from a purely historical perspective, it is absolutely amazing, fascinating and downright unbelievable (but true) that the ignorant actions of two or three low level servicemen (along with possibly one CO), doing a prison clean up job can (and has) completely unraveled and undone what a great power and her allies have worked at for ten years including spending somewhere around $500 to $700 Billion dollars (all borrowed), a...

  Rick Santorum says he wants to run a positive campaign against Mitt Romney. “We’re out talking about what we want to do, and how we’re going to change this country, and how we’re the best person to take on Barack Obama. We’re not there making scurrilous charges,” Santorum announced to the press a couple of days ago in Idaho. Given the tone of the GOP campaign so far, is this remotely possible? Even if Santorum fails to follow through on these good intentions, though, they are a welcome reminder of a passage in 2 Timothy which we are all wise to remember, in which Paul calls on Timothy to "pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace." He continues, "Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servants must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness." Paul then concludes his thought: "God may perhaps grant that they will re...

 Luke 1:46b-55 It is finished. Dare we hear, in Mary’s Magnificat, echoes of Jesus’ last words in John? If we consider Holy Scripture as God’s creative word which acts on us at every encounter, our attention to reverberations across the Gospel can bring us closer in tune with the breadth of God’s plan. In Mary’s song of praise in Luke 1 she sings not of the great things that will come to pass because of the birth of the Savior but of that which is already accomplished: God has shown strength with God’s arm; God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. Her words signal the fulfillment of God’s salvific work, affirm her obedience to God’s plan, and testify that God is in solidarity with all who suffer, just as do Jesus’ words from the cross.   We read this, we hear it, we may even know it to be true, but ...

“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who dwell therein.” “Get out of my state.” Juxtapose Psalm 24’s first verse against the sentiments behind Alabama’s harsh new anti-immigration law, HB 56, and it’s easy to see that hate, not love, is ruling the day.  Although a federal judge in Montgomery just blocked enforcement of the law’s provision which prevents immigrants from renewing required permits on manufactured homes – which could have forced illegals to abandon their homes starting next week -- passage of the law in June was a major victory for the Federation for American Immigration Reform ; its legal arm, the Immigration Reform Law Institute , whose legal counsel, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, authored the bill; and the Center for Immigration Studies , which provided research to support the legislation. These entities can sugar-coat the truth in any way they like, but there is no escaping the reality that the purpose of HB 56 is to ...

  The news media has been humming the last couple of days with reactions to what appears to be a historic Supreme Court case about whether a religious institution can be held accountable by civil discrimination laws for firing of an employee.  The case of former teacher Cheryl Perich vs. Hosanna-Tabor Lutheran Church and School (the school, affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, now functions under another name) turns on whether the “ministerial exemption” -- a decades-year-old doctrine that precludes courts from interfering in matters concerning a religious institution and its ministerial employees – can be applied. If a person is called to work in a ministerial function, is that person exempted from civil rights laws that we now accept as standard in all other walks of life?   The justices seemed stymied by the case for the time being and will not render a decision until the spring. But one section of the proceedings caught my eye: “Justice Stephen B...

 They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; everything they do shall prosper.                                   (Psalm 1:3) What exquisite imagery the psalmist brings to us on behalf of those happy ones who "have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!"  This provides the faithful with such a simple, clear prescription for how to live. We need only ask of whatever we do, say or undertake, "Is this rooted and grounded in love" (Ephesians 3:17) -- the love of God, which has been "poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:5)? Does it draw its inspiration and nourishment from these deep waters of the living God? If so -- and we will always know the answer if we observe honest self-e...