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Religion

  • Coffee and counseling

    Ryan Trares
    Daily Journal
    GREENWOOD, Ind. — The evening rush had hit Coffeehouse Five, bringing a line of people to wait for their smoothies and coffee.

    In tables and overstuffed chairs throughout the small space, they sipped on cappuccinos and lattes. Soft brown tones and low light create a welcoming atmosphere. Music by contemporary artists played.

    The scene could have come out of any Starbucks. But for every cup of coffee or chai tea they took, patrons were helping the mission work of a Johnson County church.
     

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  • GRACE NOTES 01/12/2013: Why the law is a curse

    When my youngest daughter first moved away from home and I realized I could not control her every action (not that I ever could, but I deluded myself into thinking I could when she lived with me), I had a brilliant idea.

    She was home for a visit and when I brought her to the airport I said, “Let me give you a list of everything I think you should and shouldn’t do and then you can just do everything on the list and we’ll both live happily ever after, especially me.”

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  • Tweeting the Psalms

    Yadira Betances
    The Eagle-Tribune
    HAVERHILL, Mass. — Even after retiring from ministry, the Rev. Jim Gustafson is looking for ways to make the word of God accessible to people.
     

    Gustafson, 78, recently published “psalms/tweets: Psalms in Contemporary Style,” a 175-page spiral-bound book in which he rewrote all 150 psalms as tweets using slang and modern expressions.

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  • Still helping soldiers

    Philip Grey
    The Leaf-Chronicle
    CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Sixty-eight Christmas Eves ago, during a season dedicated to peace on earth and good will towards men, a young Army chaplain was confronting the horrors of war at the Battle of the Bulge.

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  • JUDI'S JOURNAL 01/05/2013: Pekuach Nefesh — the saving of a life

    This is the first in a series of articles on Jewish values.


    One of the most important mitzvot, commandments, in the Jewish religion is the saving of human life. The concept for this commandment comes from my oft-quoted Leviticus 19, known as the Holiness Code: “Neither should you stand by the blood of your neighbor.” (Lev. 19: 16) If a human being’s life is in danger, one is obligated to do everything possible for the preservation of that life.

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  • GRACE NOTES 01/05/2013: I am 24601, and so are you

    In case you haven’t seen “Les Misérables” — go see it.
     

    In case you don’t fully understand the concept of the power of grace and mercy to change a human heart — go see it.
     

    In case you’re caught up in the drive to make others pay for their wrongs and can’t see your own — go see it.
     

    I heard it said once that all of life illustrates Bible doctrine, and this movie does just that.
     

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  • ON RELIGION 12/29/12: Top religion news of 2012

    ’Twas the Sunday night before the election and the Rev. Robert Jeffress took to the pulpit to offer a message that, from his point of view, was both shocking and rather nuanced.


    The bottom line: If Barack Obama won a second White House term, this would be yet another sign that the reign of the Antichrist is near.
    Inquiring minds wanted to know if the leader of the highly symbolic First Baptist Church of Dallas was suggesting that the president was truly You Know Anti-who.

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  • GRACE NOTES 12/29/12: For a "perfect" new year

    One day at the library, a book fell off a shelf and hit a boy named Milo Crinkley on the head.


    The title, “Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days,” was just what he needed.
     

    Wanting more than anything to be perfect, Milo checked the book out and set out to do everything the author, Dr. K. Pinkerson Silverfish, prescribed.


    So begins the 1982 children’s book “Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days” by Stephen Manes.

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  • Night, online courses help bridge the gap in training ministers

    Jayme Fraser
    Houston Chronicle
    HOUSTON — Lizbeth Tulloch just could not leave her long career as an oil industry lawyer to spend years at a seminary.
     

    She couldn’t ignore her call to ministry either.
     

    Tulloch finally found a way to explore her faith without risking her legal career: She enrolled in night and online courses at the University of St. Thomas’ St. Mary’s Seminary.
     

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  • The gift of wanting

    I like to tell people that every obsession I have is my youngest daughter’s fault. She got me hooked on jewelry, shoes, pedicures, purses, expensive cosmetics — I blame her, only because the alternative is to blame myself.

    But the truth is, I was born a wanter. I want this and I want that and I want more.

    In an old Seinfeld episode, Kramer asks George, “Do you ever yearn?”

    George tells him, “Well, not recently. I craved. I crave all the time, constant craving. But I haven’t yearned.”

    Do you yearn?

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