Category: Christianity

Yelling at my computer

 There’s a piece in the “On Faith” section of today’s Washington Post, where John Hagee proclaims his hopes and concerns for Obama.  Of course, he includes this bit of bovine excrement: “When it comes to our ally Israel, one of my chief concerns…”  To which I posted the following comment:  The dirty little secret about …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2009/01/27/yelling-at-my-computer/

Cotton Patch gospels

 Thanks so much for introducing me to Clarence Jordan.  My pastor has loaned me a copy of Jordan’s “translation” of Matthew and John and, because of the intro by Tom Key, I am listening to Harry Chapin’s soundtrack now…  My musical and literary education were sorely lacking.  Is the musical still being performed on occasion?  …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2009/01/21/cotton-patch-gospels/

A prayer for Israel

 Friends,  Yesterday, Al Staggs sent me the poem-prayer below; he has today given permission to share it so please feel free to pass it along.  Al is a former pastor and presently a performer and a poet.  He is probably best known for his portrayals of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Clarence Jordan and just recently published a book …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2009/01/08/a-prayer-for-israel/

Merry Christmas, everyone!

 Folksinger John McCutcheon’s “Christmas in the Trenches” — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9coPzDx6tA  The following is from Jim Wallis’ (www.sojo.net) weekly email:  Silent Night, by Stanley Weintraub, is the story of Christmas Eve, 1914, on the World War I battlefield in Flanders. As the German, British, and French troops facing each other were settling in for the night, a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2008/12/24/merry-christmas-everyone/

Caesar or God?

 To my pastor: Appreciated today’s reminder that God is still sovereign, even if Americans don’t vote for Obama.  I wish you could have reminded people to try to rise above any lingering racism or other prejudices when deciding to vote.  And to consider a broader, holistic what-would-Jesus-do approach to voting rather than the myriad single-issue, divide-and-conquer strategies being peddled every …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2008/11/02/caesar-or-god/

Layers (part 2)

 For me, this is probably the work that got the Israeli PR thinkers to seeing the possibilities for a beautiful friendship between Zionism and fundamentalism:  Hal Lindsey’s 1970 “The Late, Great Planet Earth.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Late_Great_Planet_Earth I remember hearing about this while we were still in high school, and wondering what in the hell kind of foolishness …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2008/08/24/layers-part-2/

Layers

 There is another, deeper, emotional/spiritual layer to this entire problem.  I used to try to explain it but it falls on secular ears, and is largely ignored as insignificant.  It is anything but, and anyone who cares about justice and dignity in the Middle East would do well to try to understand it better.  Back in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2008/08/24/layers/