As we traveled to visit family over the holidays, we drove past a church camp I went to for several summers. Connie asked about the camp and as I reflected on my experiences, I realized part of my journey away from biblical literalism began as a college intern at camp. Everyone is on a journey. […]
Author Archives: paulrpurdue
Uncle Clellon was a bit of an oddball for example as a lifelong bachelor farmer, he ran irrigation pipes to dry fields, but never saw the need to pipe running water into the house. Sill, every Christmas Eve, the Purdues, Sanders, Simms, Scotts, Greys, Harolds, and Hendrix families gathered in a five room home. The […]
In the sixth month, God sent a named angel to unremarkable small town to speak a virgin named Mary. Mary’s family had signed the arranged marriage contract with Joseph, but the wedding was months away. Mary and Joseph may have met a few times, but only in the presence of a chaperone. God’s messenger greets […]
A deep sense that “this is not right” may be the birth of a new vision for our living. It may be that God is not silent, when the walls fall down and the pleasant places seemed ruined, but that God is longing to do a new thing in us and through us. Oh if […]
A few days before Christmas, the grandparents arrived ready for “Christmas with toddlers”. One set drove their older pickup. The truck was packed tighter than Santa’s sleigh. After our 11 pm Christ-Mass Eve Service, I walked alone down the little path from the church to our parsonage humming, “silent night, holy, all is calm, all […]
The phone rang at 3am with almost unspeakable heartache on the other end. I soon passed through the ER’s metal detectors and toward ICU. The victim vacillated between this life and the one to come. I found her daughter sitting in pajamas in the middle of an empty hallway. I introduced myself as her mother’s […]
Many Hands. Many Stories. One Church. Belmont UMC is blessed with many pastors, scholars, and church leaders who worship and serve with us. On Wednesday afternoon, I thought how wonderful it would be to glean some of our favorite suggestions for devotional practices. I need to compile a list of our clergy and church leaders […]
I awoke at 3am, perhaps, because of the NYT interactive graphic “477 Days, 521 Mass shootings, Zero Action from Congress” I read before bed. Unable to return to sleep, I went and dusted off a sermon from 2015. Sadly, it was easy to rework it for another shooting. I awoke grieving for Las Vegas, […]
Jesus’ parables weave a rich tapestry of truths. What does it mean that Jesus answered tough questions and unpacked theological truths with a stories instead of an extended list of rules? When the religious experts sought to define, “who is my neighbor?”, Jesus used the image of a rival Samaritan clan as the Good Neighbor […]
With more luck than planning, we visited Gettysburg on the 150th anniversary of the battle, arriving early enough to park in the closest parking lot. The next day, we celebrated the Fourth of July in Philadelphia, toured Constitution Hall, and saw the Liberty Bell through the glass wall. We then drove to New York City, […]
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