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Showing posts from March, 2020

From Both Sides Now

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As with any event or life experience, there is more than one view to be had. Look at the Gospels and discover that four different perspectives of the same era have basic commonalities and yet personal slants. Enter COVID-19. Oh my. What can be said that hasn’t already either raised a panic or an eyebrow of distrust? If you are sitting in an apartment in Italy, you will have a very different view of this virus than if you are sipping coffee in an Idaho cabin. Following are two very different (or maybe not) angles on the corona virus panic of 2020. One is from an avid political watchman. The other is from a medical professional in California. Both have drawn me up short. I need to be aware and possibly wary. But never weary in well-doing. So … where do you land? From an evangelical opinion writer: March 15, 2020 Any real state of fear will bring panic, and once panic is the prevailing attitude of society at large, the herd seeks safety at all cost.  Seeking safety unde...

Looking Him in the Face(book)

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If my memory serves me, lunches on every Friday of my school career consisted of a non-meat option…presumably in deference to Catholics who had been admonished by the Pope not to eat meat on those days. Additionally, the only time I ever heard of Lent was from either Catholic friends or friends of friends. Giving up something for 40 days, from Ash Wednesday until Easter. Usually, it was meat or chocolate that made the top of the denial list. I did not grow up in the tradition that included meatless Fridays, Ash Wednesday, or observance of Lent. Oddly enough, I have some Protestant friends who just recently decided that this practice might be meaningful to them. “Religion” is a practice. Generally speaking, it is a practice that wants to attain something. Theologians have discussed the difference between “religion” and “Christianity” for quite some time. Law versus grace, and all the nuances of personal accountability. This year, the definition of “Lent” became something I nee...