Photo by Carrie McKamey Recently, a friend asked me to read Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si: On Care of Our Common Home. In it, the Pope lays out his views “on the environment and human ecology.” A great deal of the discussion centers on human-caused climate change. Pope Francis intricately explores the environmental and social ramifications…
Category: The cross
Don’t Tread on Me (Part 2)
Please read Part One before continuing… Societal unforgiveness is further tightening its coils through microagression theory. Dr. Derald Wing Sue says, “Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, non-verbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.” Sue…
Babylon Is Fallen!
We are going through Revelation in church. Last week we started chapter 17 about Babylon, “the notorious prostitute” John sees riding on the back of a scarlet beast (Rev. 17:3). John is told this whore “has an empire over the kings of the earth” (Rev. 17:18). The fact she rides the beast emphasizes this–the beast…
Hymne to God the Father
Sketch by Patrick Murphy Hymne to God the Father Before time your counsels chose that you would lose eternal ties with your one and only Son. Not sparing Him, you let the whips fall and the blood drip. Judges condemned as the priests quipped. On a dark hill, like Abraham, you left your Lamb. No bright…
Caitlyn, MacBeth, and the Baboons
Bruce Jenner is now calling himself Caitlyn. (Will that get you on a Wheaties box these days?) Gay marriage bells ring the world over. (If you don’t embrace this change, don’t ask for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee). Wealthy politicians use class warfare lingo to exploit voters. (“I’m on your side. It’s…
Fool’s Errand–Cameron Fultz
Cartoon by Gary Larson 1 Samuel 21:9-13 : And the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here.”…And David rose and…
Immor(t)ality
Drawing by Patrick Murphy Immor (ality) (tality) The difference is the (t) (cross)
The Biggest Small Word
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ….” (1 Peter 1:1) “Of” is a mighty word in scripture. It can show source–something that originates in something else and shares its nature, substance, reality. Ownership is another connotation. “Of” also suggests “from”; coming in another’s stead and on their authority. Such big ideas in such a little word!…
More Apostate than Apostle
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ….” (1 Peter 1:1). Over the years, I’ve concluded that “apostle” is a greatly abused term. For the most part, we’ve turned it into an honorific title. The office of apostle looms large in some movements, with prophet as a close second. Such movements seek to bring local congregations under…
What the Cross Means to Me–Katie McKamey
Above are my daughter’s beautiful thoughts about the cross. She wrote it as part of an assignment for the Christian school she attends around Easter last year. I posted it previously but I think of her words often. They never fail to touch my heart. May the reality of God’s love and Jesus’s sacrifice touch…
The Voice of One 