[Today's Christian, July/August, 2004]
Q. I come from a good family and have always worshipped God. But as I got older I started drifting away. I have a problem with alcohol. I am a diabetic and I know I should not be drinking.
[Beliefnet, July 6, 2004]
There are lots of things I like about my church, but you know what I like best? None of that stupid “women's ministry” stuff. No simpering “gals only” events advertised in voluptuous purple italics and threatening to do something to your heart (open, touch, heal, re-calibrate and change the filter). No color-saturated photos of beaming, hefty middle-aged gals (gals who look like me, that is, but with a dye job and a whole lot more makeup). No unique opportunities to Explore God's Precious Promises in an environment that offers all the sober tranquility of a manic-depressives' convention.
And the hugging! Well, actually, I don't mind hugging. It's hugging in front of a convulsively applauding, tear-spattered audience that has me groping for the Pepto-Bismol.
[National Review Online, June 1, 2004]
As the hubby and I approach our 30th anniversary, our youngest is approaching his wedding day. Stephen’s older brother David and sister Megan preceded him into wedded bliss, and have already built up our stock of grandchildren to the number of five; no doubt these newest newlyweds will supplement in time.
But none of our grandchildren will bear our name. Like David and Megan before him, Steve will take this opportunity to change his last name. So long, hyphen-Green.
[Beliefnet, April 26, 2004]
Wait just a minute till I get you hooked up to the Wince-O-Meter. Thumbs snug? Good. OK, just relax and listen to what comes over the earphones.
I got news for you little lady. I’m sexy. I’m a sexy man of God. And I know it.”
Wow, I never saw the dial do that before.
[Dallas Morning News, May 26, 2004]
While most of the world is reeling at the ugliness perpetrated by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib, I've had the feeling I've seen it all before. Rather, I've heard it, from a white-haired Romanian priest who suffered in the dread Pitesti prison outside Bucharest. Fr. George Calciu is now pastor of a small white-clapboard church in northern Virginia, and my spiritual father.
[Beliefnet, May 13, 2004]
What's the difference between “Troy” and a sword-and-sandal epic of forty-plus years ago? Stumped me, too. Superficially, there's a lot in common: swords, sandals, sand, buxom ladies, pompous declamation (“Your glory walks hand in hand with your doom”), and faux-hearty earthiness (“May the gods keep the wolves in the hills and the women in our beds!,” an invocation you hope you don't accidentally get backwards.) In terms of the grand feeling “Troy” hopes to evoke, it could be “Ben Hur” or “Spartacus.”
[Beliefnet, May 7, 2004]
Hidden under the piles of obvious things to say about ‘Van Helsing’ ‘that it’ s loud, busy, and overstuffed with CGI’is one more very surprising thing: it presents the Roman Catholic Church as a heroic force for good. You wouldn’t think that possible these days, when suspicion of ‘institutional Christianity’ is at an all-time high, when best-sellers like ‘The DaVinci Code’ inflame bizarre suspicion, and headlines about sexual misbehavior erode what trust remains.
[Today's Christian, May-June, 2004]
The Postmodern Puzzle
'Our world today is driven by post-modernism. We seem to tailor everything to best meets our needs—including our perception of God. What can we do to battle this tendency? Please help me.' —Pastor Nicholas Lolik Lemi, Church of God in Southern Sudan
[The Cresset, April 2004]
The Psalmist writes, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,” words that fall on deaf ears in a culture that knows as little of beauty as of holiness. Look at new church construction. So many contemporary churches do not aim to be beautiful; they aim to be functional. This might still work out all right, if the designers truly thought the function of a church is worship, but too often the assumed function is communication with the people in attendance, either to teach, uplift, or entertain them. Contemporary worship spaces look more like education spaces or entertainment spaces than like sanctuaries. By contrast, picture a church constructed with an eye to beauty, designed to draw us into the presence of God. It is fitting that it be beautiful, because beauty opens our hearts.
[Beliefnet, April 20, 2004]
It’s a noble, inspiring thing when patriots fight for liberty. It’s noble if they win, that is. Bostonians tossing tea in 1774 is one thing; Charlestonians defying Lincoln in 1861 is another. Turns out that rebellion, by itself, is not enough to gain history’s nod. You also have to win. History is written by the victors.
And curiously, one of the things winners love most is remembering the time they lost.
