In Gennesaret

Today (the day I’m posting this, not the day I’m writing it) is my mother’s birthday. Wilma Louise was born on July 20 th , 1923. She was a remarkable woman, as anyone who knew her could testify. (And feel free to do so in the comments here, friends.) I am celebrating her life today by baking oatmeal cookies – my MOM’s oatmeal cookies. Because they are different than anyone else’s somehow. They are hers. And they scream Wilma Louise. I believe my nieces and nephews have said before that one of their favorite memories of their grandmother was the bag of oatmeal cookies that would always be in the freezer when they came over. I could go on for quite a while about my mother . . . and I believe I have in a previous post somewhere out there. But as I mix up the dough for these cookies to refrigerate overnight, there is one thought that keeps popping up in my brain: what will people do to remember me someday? Not that I expect my kids to do something special on my birthday each year. H...

[ Another revisit from my previous blog -- written eleven years ago. I now think the American church faces a different threat . . . but much of this still applies.] Our Sunday School teacher used that phrase yesterday. Mainstreams and margins . Our society tends to refer to "majorities" and "minorities," but I think these terms are more accurate. You can be a statistical majority and still be on the margins of society. It's not about the numbers. In the context of our discussion, the teacher asked us to consider situations in our lives when we have been in either camp. When have you been in the margins? And when you were, what were your thoughts and feelings about those in the mainstream? Conversely, when you've been in the mainstream, how did you think and feel about those in the margins? We were examining passages in Acts about conflict resolution -- specifically Acts 15, when the Council in Jerusalem had to make a decision about circumcision. Do Gentiles ...

[A post from my previous blog that I just rediscovered - enjoy]   It's a sad thing when you are convicted by your own words. In Sunday School last weekend, I made a brilliant and insightful remark that everyone ooh'd and aah'd over. (At least, that's my recollection of the moment.) We were discussing how we distinguish the Holy Spirit's communication with us from our own self-promoting desires speaking to us. And I mentioned a lesson I learned many years ago: if I really want to hear clearly from God on a matter, I have to put myself in a neutral stance on that matter. I have to get myself to the point that I am genuinely willing to obey God in whatever He says -- even if it is the complete opposite of what I want, even if it makes my life difficult or possibly downright miserable, even if I lose friends and loved ones as a result -- whatever you want, Lord, that's what I want. I am in complete submission. Once I'm there, I usually find God's will is qu...