The headline offended me and I resisted reading. However, “what religion would Jesus belong to?” (NYTimes) spoke of a cultural Christianity gone to seed and drifting away from Jesus’ founding moral vision. We are a nation of religious illiterates. Half of us who claim to be Christians can’t name the four Gospels and 80% believe […]
Author Archives: paulrpurdue
Connie and Maureen Meehan worked together as Physical Therapists in the late 1980s. Bill Meehan kept dinner lively with his engaging New York attitude. Occasionally, we babysat for the Meehans. Little Billy’s first grade picture graced their refrigerator. On Picture Day, Billy came to breakfast with only one eyebrow, at first denying playing with his […]
Our Father Loving and Sovereign Lord, we cry out to You for justice, healing and peace. Who art in Heaven We long for Heaven where faith, hope and love reign eternal. Holy is Your Name Your path is Holy, never hateful, vengeful, unjust or prejudiced. Your Kingdom come Your Kingdom comes as […]
Love is our means. Love is our strength. Love is our hope. Love is the end. Love is the tool God used to save the world. Love is the victory. Love is the only acceptable outcome. 1 John 4:4 & 5:3-5 “Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the God who […]
Aboard a ship to Massachusetts in 1630, JOHN WINTHROP, who twelves times would be elected governor of the New England Colony, laid out a covenant for the Puritan settlers of the new world. Hear the communal ideas grounding “A Model of Christian Charity”. Winthrop wrote: “There are two rules whereby we are to walk one […]
Originally posted on Greater Things Are Yet To Be Done:
With Paul, I write, “I give thanks for my every remembrance of you.” These last 23 days in Portland have reminded me again of the joy of the work of ministry among the people of the Memphis and Tennessee Conferences. Already I am hearing wonderful…
I scrolled through the computer files seeking photos for the Seniors’ Graduation Dinner. Each photo rekindled a memory. Lewis dressed as Woodie the Cowboy for Trunk or Treat, wearing a magi costume for the Christmas Pageant, sliding down the inflatable slide at VBS, or Lewis and Caleb hugging, grinning wildly, and covered in mud after […]
Every four years, during the already divisive American election season, 850 United Methodist delegates from all over Europe, Asia, the Philippines, Africa and the United States gather to conference together, worship together, and create or amend church law. The delegates are split evenly between lay and clergy. Beginning with a few pages at the Christmas […]
As if glued by grief, they hung to the edges of the high school walls. The colorful paper strips for the memory chain sat in untouched stacks next to photos of the suddenly deceased. Grief counselors and teachers stood by ready to talk, but the young people gripped by shock did not even talk to […]
Can we work for God and not know God? Can we do religious work and be disconnected from God? If we mistake mission, fellowship, good works, justice, or evangelism for the center of the church or our living, we then dethrone God and disconnect from the renewing streams of mercy and love that flow from […]
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