The Information Age is an interesting, and generally exciting, time to be alive. At any moment, just about anywhere on the globe, we have access to the vast majority of information known to humanity throughout all of history at the tips of our fingers. Cellphones have become ubiquitous the world over. As I sat at a campground in rural India, I was able to use my personal cellphone to look up...
Something to Say: A Controversial Commercial Continued
A lot of people had opinions about the Christocentric commercials that were aired during the Super Bowl, myself included. Over the subsequent days, I engaged dozens of people in deep conversation. Most of the concerns discussed revolved not around what was actually communicated in the commercials, but what was NOT communicated and how people might or might not respond as a result. As I...
Controversial Commercial or Honorable Offering
I spent Sunday evening like many other Americans, watching the Super Bowl. As a life-long fan of the Chicago Bears, a team that is perpetually awful, I usually don’t care who wins the big game. This year I would have been equally happy if either Brock Purdy or Taylor Swift’s boyfriend had won. But, if I’m really being honest, I watch the game for the commercials. I’ve been somewhat disappointed...
Who Is It REALLY About? Our Focus in Worship Matters!
While Jeremy is making his way back to the US from India, today’s blog is a guest post by Nathan Parker, Pastor of Worship and Media at FBC Seymour. As a worship pastor, I’ve come across many parody videos of worship songs and hymns over the years. While some are a bit corny, some are downright hilarious! One in particular that always sticks out in my memory has a man at the piano singing...
Learning to Listen
According to the maps app on my phone, I am just shy of 8000 miles away from home. I am on the other side of the world, visiting the Garo Hills in the Nation of India. It is about 5:30 in the morning, and I’m wide awake. I’ve actually been awake since just after 3:00am. It’s been a recurring theme for the past several nights. The realities of jet lag are part of the experience of traveling around...
Baby, It’s Cold Outside: From Concerns to Contributions
Some of the songs we call Christmas songs would more rightly be called winter songs. Songs like Let It Snow, Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride, and Walking In A Winter Wonderland are really focused on enjoying the winter weather. Baby, It’s Cold Outside also fits into this category of songs. Rather than celebrating the wintry conditions, however, a concerned boyfriend attempts to dissuade his lady love...
Out of the Armchair and Into the Action
Athletics have become an important feature of the American social experience. Gyms, stadiums, and ball fields have become crucial connecting points where people gather with friends and family, rally around shared interests and affinities, and loudly explain to those on the playing surface how they are doing it wrong and how it could be done better. We call this practice “Armchair...
Beyond the Squeaky Wheel
“The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” You’ve likely heard this American proverb at some point in your life. No one is certain from whence this little nugget of wisdom came. The truth the phrase is intended to communicate, however, is widely understood and accepted: The loudest problems and most noticeable problems are the most likely to get the most attention. In many areas of my own life, I have...
Times They Are A-Changin’
In February of 1964, Bob Dylan famously sang, “…the times they are a-changin’.” At the time, Robyn’s Nana was 40 years old. Nana doesn’t strike me as the Bob Dylan type, but the truth of Mr. Dylan’s lyric must have rung true to her then. They undoubtedly resonate in her soul all these years later. Nana recently turned 100 years old. It’s quite an amazing accomplishment. Living many years is a...
Thy Will Be Done?
For several years I served at a Methodist church with a traditional, liturgical service. A constant feature of most Sunday services was a congregational recitation of The Lord’s Prayer. Even visitors who rarely darkened the doors of a church could not only recite it, but had strong feelings about the preferred wording that should be used. It is one of the few times when both young and old often...
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