Monotheism and the Jews

Traditionally, when a Jewish congregation came to the last word in the Shema, which is echod, they would shout it: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is ONE! How long they followed that tradition no one will ever know. But it surely goes way back into the distant history of the Jews, when they alone were the only monotheists in the world. They wanted to remind themselves and everyone else that they alone held fast to the one Lord of Israel and of the entire Universe, Adonoy, The Lord of all.

July 19 Sermon: The Origin of Evil

God alone is the answer to the problem of evil. He alone can absorb it into Himself, and the cross of Jesus of Nazareth is the best possible illustration of that truth. Humans obviously cannot solve the problem of evil, or long since we would have done it. We are the only creatures capable of doing evil, and we all engage in it. Fortunately, for most of us, it is on a fairly rare basis.

Does God EVER Intervene?

I do not expect everyone to agree with the thesis I am proposing in this sermon. I readily admit it is unorthodox. But I want to propose it anyway in case it helps any of you who have prayed many prayers that seem to have gone unanswered. My thesis, strange as it may sound, is this: God never intervenes directly in the lives of human beings.

On Living with Approximation

No one ever becomes the finished product God wants us to be; no one! We are all getting there, or least we should be trying to get there, but we’re not there yet, and we shall never fully get there. The problem is that we’re human; we aren’t divine. God is perfect, and complete, and “finished,” but we are not. And that’s something we must never forget --- about everyone else, but especially about ourselves.

Sunday Service - May 17 - Text

Both strength and weakness can be deceiving. Some things look very weak, like ants, but they are incredibly strong. And some things look strong, like mastadons or mammoths or saber-toothed tigers, but a group of clever hunters, armed only with sharpened flint spears, managed to send these and many other powerful species into extinction. Thing are not always as they seem.

Should Christian Culture Trump Secular Culture?

Back when I took Introductory Sociology in college, we were taught that culture is the totality of the customs, laws, mores, religious influences, art forms of all sorts, and popular understanding which comprise the social life of a very large group of people or a sub-set of people. Thus, for example, there is an American culture, very broadly defined. But there is also a Southern culture, a Northeastern culture, a Midwestern culture, and a Western culture. Within those cultures there are various Indian (or Native American) cultures, an Appalachian culture, a Lutheran culture, a vegetarian culture, and so on. Having lived on Hilton Head Island for an accumulation of thirty years, and in Bluffton for six years, I can safely declare to you that there is a Hilton Head culture and a Bluffton culture, and nary the twain shall meet. Years ago bumper stickers proclaimed, “Bluffton Is a State of Mind.” It still is, but just more so now.