Retired & Thinking

You gotta love Portland . It's a town of such contrasts and inconsistencies it makes you smile; just before you puke. Check out the news over Schumacher Furs & Outerwear's leaving downtown Portland . Their reason is the continual protest [see photo] against their product. The owner is quoted as saying, "Our clientele wants us to move. They do not feel safe coming to our store or to downtown," he says. "I do not feel safe coming in my own store." Now maybe it is just my strange way of looking at things but I wonder if I'd see the same sort of protests on NW Lovejoy would be tolerated by the great open-minded, free-thinking people of Portland . A decade ago, when protestors stood outside the Abortion Clinic with enlarged photos of aborted children they were shooed back by the courts. In downtown Portland would be customers have to force their way through screaming activists. Those who protest the death of innocents are labeled as terrorists. Consi...

Matthew 1:3 is an often-overlooked verse in the large story of Jesus' birth. "When Herod the king heard this, he was disturbed and troubled, and the whole of Jerusalem with him." But Jerusalem wasn't the only city troubled by this Jesus. Bethlehem is troubled. Soldiers murdered the boys in that town as a way to get rid of Jesus. Nazareth is troubled by Jesus as he returns and grows. Mark records how the citizens "took offence at him" and how "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them." Mark 6:3,5 NIV . In Luke's account of Jesus' teaching, they were so upset they ran him out of town in an attempt to kill him. Let's jump head 2000 years and you'll see that today Jesus still disturbs and troubles many towns and cities around our world. Most of us in Oregon remember the Eugene Fire Department's removal of Christmas trees. This year we saw, Sea-Tac Airport take upsetting an...

Borrowing a page from my Classical Presbyterian brother let me add my birthday wishes to Dr. Lewis for his continued influence on those who would follow Jesus. Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Clive.... Happy Birthday to you. Peace Alan

So some of us have seen the advertisements for the movie, Borat. It seems to be mildly funny and probably crude. Well here's another take on it that is well worth the reading from Classical Presbyterian. One movie you probably should plan to see is The Nativity Story which was written, for the movie, by a Portland author Mike Rich who also wrote Radio and Finding Forrester . It comes out December 1. Peace, Alan

I ran across a news release about the Jesus' Seminar's traveling dog-and-pony-show that is taking place in Tennessee. I've read some of John Shuck's blogs*, he's the pastor at First Presbyterian of Elizabethton and I'd judge him as one who probably has a question or two about the existence of God let alone Jesus' divinity. What caught my attention was the side bar of "Ads by Google". I was immediately drawn to the fact that I could apply most of them to the press release in the article. Then I had to wonder if God wasn't trying to say something. You'll find the actual screen shot as separate post "God and Ads by Google. Kingsport Foreclosures —probably a service the Presbyterian Church may consider when Jesus Seminar type theology [I use that word very loosely] gains full sway. Kingsport Tn Job —the source of Shuck's next job such as school counselor, office manager or at-large Presbyterian spiritualist. Bristol Tennessee —Don'...

Teachable Moments and Cats... Kenton has a couple of things of interest to our community . First is a group of homeless people who, from time-to-time, camp behind our building. It is dark, pretty quiet and nobody usually hassles them. Our neighbors are concerned, rightly so, since they too often leave than desirable items behind. Our Session is concerned due to liability issues and such. Secondly , We have Jasper. Jasper loves us. Jasper loves the homeless people, Jasper loves everyone along Chatham street . Jasper is a cat. Here’s how the two relate. As Preacher it usually falls to me to move any homeless folks along off of the church grounds. October 6, early in the morning, I started to hear some familiar voices outside the office window. Being on the second floor you can’t see where they usually sleep so I went to the door that overlooks the back and opened it to find four people. From the spread out blanket, pillows, the malt liquor cans on the ground and in the hands of two ...

Bravery in Sacramento Sacramento Presbytery took an unprecedented step toward reclaiming the Protestant faith in the actions taken this past Saturday. At a called Presbytery meeting five hours of very difficult dicussion was held on four very difficult and important provisions. All of them passed. They were: To promote the peace, unity, and purity of our presbytery, we resolve that the Sacramento Presbytery holds that all candidates for ordination, installation, and/or membership in this Presbytery shall comply with all standards for ordination set forth in the Constitution of the (PCUSA) (G-1.0500), or shall be ineligible for ordination, installation, and/or membership. To promote the peace, unity, and purity of our presbytery, we resolve that the Sacramento Presbytery shall not receive into membership, nor recognize as a member, anyone who has been ordained or installed under a scruple (that is taking exception to any of the ordination standards as set forth in the Constitution of th...