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Philemon
1. Even though it is Paul’s shortest and most personal letter with none of the theology or doctrine we have come to expect in his writings it, from my perspective, has more about the personality of Paul concentrated in one place than any of his letters. It is here that we see what a master of persuasion he is without being a manipulator. He clearly knows those to whom he writes and their love for each other. Like his letter to the church at Philippi he is loving and grateful for their love and support for him. Like his challenge to the Christians at Rome he talks straight about what…
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A Cold and Broken Hallelujah
We all like backstories. I especially enjoy the stories behind songs. Did you know Paul McCartney’s original working title for “Yesterday” was “Scrambled Eggs”? Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” was originally titled “In The Garden of Eden,” but the lead singer was so inebriated he could not pronounce the words – so they left the title the only way he could say it. Recently, I read the backstory of Leonard Cohen’s song, “Hallelujah,” written and recorded in 1984. Not known as a devout person, it came as a surprise to everyone that Cohen showed up in the studio having written a lyric normally reserved for religious artists. Years later, he said that…
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Snakes on a Plain
There are very few passages in Scripture as graphic and frightening as God’s sending “fiery serpents” in response to the grumbling of the people. Everywhere they turn – like Indiana Jones in the pit of vipers – they are surrounded by them. In a desperate panic they plead with Moses to pray that the Lord would take away the snakes: “So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.” All is well…or so it seems. Someone must have waited until the snakes left the camp and then taken down the…
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Jude
Billy Graham used to say he preached with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Given what we read in the newspapers today it is so tempting to put names to people that Jude leaves nameless – but obvious. I suppose in every era we could do that but since he doesn’t, I won’t either – as much as I would like to do that! Before we jump into the book and discover what Jude means by “contending for the faith” I think it is important to realize there are two book-ends that hold everything together here. They are what give the book consistency and give…
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The Bosom of Fools
In his documentary film, “Korengal,” author and director Sebastian Junger recounts the stories of a platoon of American soldiers deployed to a tiny and dangerous outpost in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. The “grinding boredom gives way to bowel-emptying fear, followed sometimes by episodes of nearly psychedelic blood lust and the frankly sexual pleasure of unleashing a .50-caliber machine gun on enemies who are doing the same to you.” While the film is horrifying to watch, Junger’s newest book, “The Tribe,” makes the case that coming home from war is often harder than risking your life: “There is something to be said for using risk to forge social bonds…Having something to fight for, and…
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2 Peter 3
1. Peter understands the importance of reminding people. As we said last week, most people don’t need instructing as much as they need reminding. This is the basis of natural law. We assume people are born with a basic sense of right and wrong. Paul even talks in Romans about the Gentiles who do not have the Jewish Law but they do “by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.”…
