Spirit Matters
Working Relationship
Wedding season is in full bloom. In McKinley Park and Downtown churches, I’ve seen the lovely dresses spilling from stretch limos, flowers flowing, jewelry sparkling.
Looking at this outside view, I see signs that the couple spent countless hours sweating the details of their lavish affair.
But long before this summer spectacular, I hope someone remembered to ask the couple this question:
Two-Way Street
July is when we celebrate freedoms. For me, few freedoms are as precious as my freedom of religion.
When I served as an Air Force chaplain, I had many conversations about religious freedom. Few went like the one I had with a deputy commander of my base.
She was passing my office and stuck her head in the door. “Watcha doing, Chaplain?” she asked.
I said, “I’m trying to write a prayer for colonel so-and-so’s retirement ceremony, but I’m not getting far.”
Hot Times
This month’s column comes straight out of ancient times. This is wrath-of-God stuff, fire and brimstone, baby, right from the Old Testament cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
You know I’m messing with you. You don’t read this column to get the hellish diatribes made famous by televangelists.
Those preachers often compare the “homosexual debaucheries” of Sodom and Gomorrah with what they see as the decline of America. They use it as a cautionary tale to ban books, define sexes and influence elections.
Learning Process
Some months back, I visited a new church led by an energetic team. I wanted to learn how our traditional church might find some regenerative energy.
Afterward, I asked what the team liked about their church. I heard several good answers, but one woman intrigued me.
“The first time I walked into this church, I could tell I’d found a wholesome place,” she said.
“Definitely a wholesome-looking bunch,” I said.
“Yes,” she added. “No one with piercings or tattoos.”
Backward Thinking
Sorry if you missed National Backward Day. It was in January.
When my wife was teaching, her elementary schools always observed National Backward Day, a brief respite that encourages people to do things in reverse or unconventional ways.
You don’t have to be a kid to celebrate it. All ages are welcome to break routine and engage in activities with a unique twist.
Participants wear clothes backward, eat meals in reverse order or do everyday tasks in unconventional ways.
Verbal Sparring
I met Bill at Baylor University. He was a fellow ministerial student who imprinted his fraternity shirt with a mock Latin phrase, “Quid tibi est?”
In 1978, Google was a long way off, so my fellow pledges asked him to translate it.
“What’s it to you?” he asked.
“Oh, come on,” we said. “Just tell us what it means.”
Mocking us as lowly plebes, he weighted the last two words, “What’s it TO YOU?”
