The “Circle of Life” is the opening song of the Disney movie The Lion King. To the rhythmic background of a Zulu chant, the lyrics introduce the theme: From the day we arrive on the planet and, blinking, step into the sun, There’s more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than […]
Created by Albert Gyorgy, Romanian artist, reflecting on human emptiness. Located on the shoreline of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. (https://wooarts.com/albert-gyorgy-gallery/) This phrase is frequently used by leaders in the 12-Step Recovery Program in helping those who struggle with addiction and feel a sense of emptiness or incompleteness that keeps driving them back to the bottle or the […]
This past Saturday, the San Gabriel Mission was reopened, three years after it was nearly destroyed by an arson fire. A news article written a few days before the opening bore the title, “A Restored Mission San Gabriel Casts New Light on Southern California Indigenous History.”1 The writer reported that in restoring the on-site museum, […]
That’s the title poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89) gave to the poem I want to share with you. Apparently, he was inspired by seeing a magpie, a very common bird in his native England. Magpies are easy to identify because of their sharply contrasting feathers of black and blue and white. Pied, the abbreviated form […]
Did you pick that up, my misspelling of compliment (e versus i for the middle vowel)? Well, that’s the trick the Southern Baptists are trying to play on their faithful women members. Traditionally, Southern Baptist churches practiced Patriarchy; that is, the men are in charge. The modern world has moved away from that authoritarian model, […]
The well-known Christian author Timothy Keller wrote: “A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it.”1 Sadly, a person whose natural antibodies don’t function in fighting against disease (as in AIDS and other autoimmune diseases) is not likely to live long. Doubts are like our souls’ white blood cells, picking […]
Have you been there? Well, there’s a part of the Bible that was written just for you — the Book of Job. This is a story about a man who had it all, then lost it all, then had to listen to well-meaning friends who went on and on trying to explain things to him. […]
It all started on February 27, AD 380. That’s when Emperor Theodosius signed a decree that made Christianity the official state religion throughout the Roman Empire.* Before that, being a Christian made a person an enemy of the state, or at least suspect. You could expect to be persecuted for your faith and possibly die […]
Ecclesiastes is one of the most puzzling, yet fascinating, books of the Bible. In it the “Teacher”1 shares a perspective on life as an older man who has gone through a lot. It’s full of cynicism; it’s opening line is its most famous: “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:1). And yet, there’s a […]
I know you’ve seen this face on local Los Angeles TV. It’s Rev. Andy Bales, who has been the Director (CEO) of Union Rescue Mission since 2005. Every time there’s a news story regarding homelessness, he seems to be the go-to expert reporters seek out for comment. His answers are right on, forceful and persuasive. […]