Tonight, we begin our Lenten journey tonight with a sign of the cross smudged across our foreheads. The ashen smudge is a sign of our identification with Jesus- it reminds us of our baptismal promises to follow Jesus’ along Christ’s alternative kin-dom route. I do not see where Jesus asked us to put on sackcloth […]
Tag Archives: god
We have two children. One majored in engineering. The other majored in theater, with a minor in Music, in Appalachian Studies and in Political Science. One lives in a tiny cabin at Cedar Crest Camp surrounded by 500 acres of woods. One lives in a Huntsville neighborhood with his wife, Jillian, a goldendoodle and two […]
Remarks at Run Walk Nashville Pedestrian Memorial Service 2/22/25 Hello, I’m Paul Purdue. I’m the Pastor at Belmont United Methodist Church in Hillsborough Village. When Wesley asked me if I could speak at the memorial. I was happy to do so because on July 1 of this year my brother was involved in a bicycle […]
The Bible begins with a beautiful creation liturgy, followed by a creation story, a flood story and a tower story. Genesis 2-11 just reads differently than the rest of the Bible. Scholars say that the historical portion of the Bible begins in Genesis 12 where God calls Abraham and Sarah. Jesus spoke of “the God […]
It would be a truly terrible idea, to open up the Biblical canon for another book or two, but if we did, I would nominate Martin Luther King’s 1963 Epistle written inside a Birmingham jail. It is widely quoted, about the length of First and Second Corinthians, and deeply Christian. Dr King like Paul was […]
Today, we are hearing the Word of God proclaimed in songs, poems, liturgy and hymns. Music and art move us into the parts of truth that resist scientific explanations or historical reductionism. Some of our deepest human values defy: peace, joy, love, respect, unity, hope, awe, wonder, beauty, belonging, compassion, contentment, friendship, fairness, and justice. […]
By beginning, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed,” Luke highlighted the power of the occupying Empire to inconvenience not just Mary and Joseph but the whole world. Historians note that “Quirinius” stretches the historicity of Luke’s timeline, but a particularly cruel governor, Quirinius” remind […]
We are beginning our journey to Christmas. On Monday I walked into the sanctuary and saw Susan, Arnell, Marlene, Eleanor, James and Neil putting up our Chrismon tree. Chrismon means Christ monogram- they are special ornaments that remind us of Christ. “Advent” means arrival, beginning or starting. The theological place where we began our journey […]
Despite my protest, Dad refused to reshuffle the order of cars in the driveway, so we rolled up in an old farm truck, with a huge dent in the bed and non-functioning air horns across the cab. I was a ninth grader, new to my school and heading to my first party with the popular […]
Our lectionary reading comes from the Book of First Kings. Kings, like Samuel and Chronicles, reads like history but lifts up some events while completely ignoring others. “Kings” is concerned with one thing: “Did the king do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” ( 1 Kings 16) After that moral assessment Kings reflects very […]
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