Retired & Thinking

Some Bible stories have been given the wrong titles over the centuries. The Prodigal Son in Luke 15 is about the Faithful Father who from a distance “ saw him and he had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him” Lk 15:20. In all three synoptic gospels, you have the story of the “Rich Young Ruler” but nowhere do the stories tell us his age and only Luke (18:18) uses the word archon which can mean ruler, official, or chieftain. We know for certain is that he was rich. Doubting Thomas is another misnamed person. He may have been slow on the uptake of what Jesus was planning. He may not have accepted his fellow disciple’s story of Easter, but he doesn’t doubt Jesus. Nature of Belief We need to have evidence if we’re going to believe. Missouri has been known as The Show Me State flowing from Congressman’s Vandiver’s comment, “frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me (Ashcroft)." One of our annual Christmas movie...

Here is a statement from 1997 about ‘risk avoidance’ He said, “I’m afraid we may well miss the next great advancement. We’re so afraid of failure that we may not pursue that next step (Stealth).” He was talking about stealth aircraft and his point was, that too much energy goes into avoiding the risk that we may miss out on the next advancement. For the last few weeks ‘risk avoidance’ has been the centerpiece of life in the US. As I write this sermon there are five states that do not have lockdowns in place. What has shaken us to our roots started 140 days ago in China with a man who got sick. Right now, John Hopkins’ display shows 98k confirmed cases, 50k deaths, and 204k recovery. All but essential businesses are closed. 6.6 million people applied for unemployment the past week and the Dow went from 28k to a low of 18.5 and is rebounded bit as of today. Reality of Fear In 140 days, this virus has shaken us, has shaken the whole world, to its core. It took a decade to sha...