Categotry Archives: food for thought

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Thankfulness-The Antidote For Entitlement

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Categories: food for thought

In the last post, I ranted awhile about the unattractive sense of entitlement that exists in our culture, and even within the church. Forgive me if I seemed especially snarky–I think those sentiments had been stirring in my soul for weeks since I got back from Europe, and I never really had an opportunity to vent.

That said, I’ve been pondering some of the things I said toward the end of that post, particularly about presenting requests to God with thanksgiving. I am pondering the idea that a thankful heart can be an antidote for the entitlement mentality that is so contagious around us. And as I sit here with my coffee on a pretty Thanksgiving morning, it seems a good time to ponder this some more.

This is a preview of Thankfulness-The Antidote For Entitlement. Read the full post (916 words, estimated 3:40 mins reading time)

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You’ll Never Guess Where I’ve Been…

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Categories: food for thought, travel

thinker

…but the picture above is a hint.

You might recognize this statue if you’re a long-time reader, not just because it’s a really, really famous statue, because I’ve often used a photo of it in posts like these.

But the one above isn’t a picture I just found on the Interwebs.  I took it myself last week.

Yep. I’ve been in Paris. The photo is of “The Thinker,” on display at the Rodin Museum.

I know there’s been a lot of radio silence lately on this here blog. This trip, and the preparation time that preceded it, might explain some of that silence.

This is a preview of You’ll Never Guess Where I’ve Been…. Read the full post (851 words, 1 image, estimated 3:24 mins reading time)

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Jesus At the Movies? (part 2)

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Categories: food for thought, movies

Last week, I started some ramblings about the new surge of “Christian” films that have been making it to movie theaters lately, and questioning whether we are once again missing the boat with our approach.  It was a discussion that at the time seemed very poignant, but may have actually been quite mundane. (Sometimes it’s hard to gauge when you’re just sending thoughts into the cosmic void known as the “blogosphere”.)

This is a preview of Jesus At the Movies? (part 2). Read the full post (993 words, estimated 3:58 mins reading time)

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Thoughts on Resurrection

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Categories: food for thought, holidays

He is risen. However you choose to celebrate this day, I hope it’s a great one for you.

If I can be completely honest, for the past few years, I’ve literally had to remind myself when Easter comes around.  Everyone in my household is too big for the Easter Bunny (not to mention we really don’t need the candy around), and not being actively involved in a congregation at this time, there’s not much else in my life to remind me of it.  It wasn’t always that way. For the better part of my life working in the church, “Easter” equaled “work” for me, as each time it came around, we geared up for what was supposed to be the biggest Sunday of the year.  Even before I was officially “in the ministry,” I was always deeply involved in the services, pageants, plays, etc., from my early teens on.  So for the past couple of years, it’s actually come as a welcome rest for me not to have to do anything on Easter Sunday.

This is a preview of Thoughts on Resurrection. Read the full post (669 words, estimated 2:41 mins reading time)

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More Thoughts on “Noah” (Now That I’ve Actually Seen It)

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Categories: food for thought, movies

So “Noah” came out this weekend, and true to form, religious-minded Christians are having a heyday with it.  Social media is ablaze over it, and not always in a good way. Even so, there are a few believers that seem to have kept a level head, and some have actually said some intelligent things about it.

Since I brought up this controversy earlier (see my post here), I figured now that I’ve actually seen the film, I might chime in one more time.  (I’ll try to avoid any spoilers in case you guys haven’t seen it yet.)

This is a preview of More Thoughts on “Noah” (Now That I’ve Actually Seen It). Read the full post (727 words, estimated 2:54 mins reading time)

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Why Can’t the Christians Leave “Noah” Alone?

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Categories: food for thought, Rantings

So it seems I rarely rant on this here blog nowadays…but something’s got my dander up a bit, so rant I will.

There’s this movie coming out at the end of this month about the story of Noah. It’s called Noah.:) It’s got some really cool actors in it, and it looks like it will be a really good movie. My son The Director really likes the work of this film’s director, Darren Aronofsky, and has been looking forward to this film for a long time.  As for Aronofsky himself, he is Jewish by heritage; he has been entranced by the story of Noah from childhood, so this movie is something of a lifelong dream for him.

This is a preview of Why Can’t the Christians Leave “Noah” Alone?. Read the full post (1314 words, 1 image, estimated 5:15 mins reading time)

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Thoughts on Leaving: Why I Left

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Categories: food for thought

In my previous post in what is apparently going to be a series, 🙂 I rambled for awhile about the idea of leaving the institutional church structure, including some of my own story and reflecting on what I had actually left behind, and what I didn’t leave. So the next step on this stream-of-consciousness journey is to talk about why I left the institutional church.

This is a preview of Thoughts on Leaving: Why I Left. Read the full post (1716 words, estimated 6:52 mins reading time)

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Thoughts on Leaving: What I Left, and What I Didn’t

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Categories: church, food for thought

My good blogger friend Kathy wrote a very insightful post this week called “leaving church to save our souls.” It’s not often I find someone who not only “gets it” but expresses “it” so well–especially considering this came from a pastor. 🙂 (I’m so used to getting subtle guilt trips from pastors, but that’s another blog post.)

Anyway, this post did what it was meant to do–it got me thinking.  I know this whole blog is basically about my journey out of institutional Christianity, so it might seem a bit redundant to do a post about “leaving.” 🙂  But as I progress on this journey of faith, I seem to gain more perspective and more of a vocabulary to express what I think and feel.  So I felt a(nother) blog post processing these thoughts was in order.

This is a preview of Thoughts on Leaving: What I Left, and What I Didn’t. Read the full post (904 words, estimated 3:37 mins reading time)

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Tebow and Manning: A Tale of Two Christians

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Categories: faith, food for thought

Considering that the Super Bowl is next weekend–and especially considering that the Denver BRONCOS are playing in it–it’s a good time to have a football-themed post. 🙂

If you follow professional football at all, you recognize the names of the two people in the title of this post: Tim Tebow and Peyton Manning.  The connection between them is that they are the previous and current quarterbacks for the Denver Broncos, which is of particular interest to me since I live here and have a front row seat to notice how each quarterback has been perceived in these parts. Another connection between them, one less obvious, is that both are men of faith–though they both have very different ways of expressing that faith, and interestingly, have seen different outcomes in their lives.

This is a preview of Tebow and Manning: A Tale of Two Christians. Read the full post (1055 words, 1 image, estimated 4:13 mins reading time)
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