Since the sixteenth century, Japanese people have observed bōnenkai, literally, “forget the year gathering.” These gatherings have recently included destruction of the previous year’s calendars, as a symbolic way of moving on to the next year. There are other ingredients to their gatherings in which I’d prefer not to participate, but I sure like the…
The gifts are still under the tree. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day have come and gone, and the gifts are still under the tree. No torn wrappings on the floor. No dirty dishes still in the sink. No family members still discussing their gifts. A Grinch stole Christmas, and his name was Covid-19. Six days…
My Christmas sermon was ready to be preached. Then I was exposed to COVID, and placed on a fourteen day quarantine. On Saturday evening, I was advised not to preach the following morning – too late for the church to set up the technology for me to deliver the sermon via media. The unpreached sermon…
I have a long-time friend and colleague who recently tested positive for COVID and pneumonia. He is currently hospitalized in the ICU area of a major hospital. When I talked with him, he shared with me that he told his Dr. that hundreds of people were praying for him. Then he asked the Dr. if…
Times have changed. People are staying home from church services in record numbers – and blaming the COVID virus. History has shown when we are forced by circumstances to change, we eventually get comfortable with the change, and even prefer the new methods to the old. John Cage, an American composer, artist, and philosopher, confessed,…
In the late 1960s, I commuted to Seminary with an interesting group of want-a-be-ministers. Our carpool consisted of two soon-to-be Senior Pastors, one military Chaplain who would become a denominational servant, one President of an international ministry organization, and one future seminary professor. Four mornings a week, we met at six o’clock, pilled in to…
It’s unclear if on that first Thanksgiving, the colonists and Native Americans ate turkey at their feast. More likely, they indulged in other interesting foods like lobster, and seal. What is certain is that a tradition developed that called for the U.S. President to declare Thanksgiving as a holiday anew each year, until Thomas Jefferson…
Several years ago, I granted permission to e-Thoughts, a weekly online devotional ministry, to use any of my Monday Morning Manna that they wanted to use. I was honored again last week as they posted one entitled, “Thankfulness Times Three,” in which I described a Thanksgiving tradition of mine of selecting three persons each year…
We sang a song yesterday in the worship service that I had completely forgotten. It was a song from my youth, written in 1931 by B.B. McKinney, and based on Psalm 100:2, “Serve the Lord with gladness.” As we sang, I found myself wondering if there was any other way to serve the Lord. Could…
I used to wonder why my father went home for lunch every day. The food was good, but not that much better than anywhere else he could have gone for a meal. He went home to take an after-lunch nap. When we moved to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, one of my culture shocks…