Church and Social Movements « Heatherhope Farm

Try Being Less Spiritual and More Decent

“What then should we do?”

That was the cry of the crowds who were touched by John the Baptist’s message in the region of the Jordan, that God’s ax was laid at the root of the trees, and those that produced no good fruit would be cut down (Luke 3:9).

What are those good fruits? What are […]

Mary Magdalene: The Easter Angel

The Easter Gospel: John 20:1-18

Very often, my wife, Connie, will see me growing cranky looking for something. She says, “What are you looking for?” And no sooner than I name the elusive thing, she finds it. And often it had been hiding in plain sight, right in front of my nose.

Mary Magdalene pulls the same […]

Reflections on Lessons Pentecost 23 A

We had a spirited discussion today in our weekly Bible study of area pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). It was fed by a feeling of dread about recent signs of sickness in our society. One of our number put it something like this. “Why is it that we are Christians, and […]

What Lives Matter? What Truths Matter?

What is it that feeds resentment in today’s political climate?

National Public Radio’s David Greene in a piece that ran on NPR’s Morning Edition on October 30, 2017, asked a woman named Jessica, who lives in southern Virginia, and is also a member of a group called “League of the South,” about her reasons for joining a […]

Heatherhope Believes In A Dynamic Church

Easter morning listening to the radio. National Public Radio represents the best of broadcast journalism. But I heard exactly two references to the great Christian Festival Day of Easter. One was an offhand comment, just before the segment with “puzzle master Will Shorts,” in which the host noted that many listeners would possibly be away […]

More "Us" and Less World in Prayers

Of course, we all know it is a travesty for prayers and sermons to chant on about this and that abstraction. We heap up metaphors but cannot, for the life of us, speak in an apposite way or about practical truths. Saved by the blood of the cross? We explain it using ten more abstractions, and in […]

Advent People during Anxious Times

I returned to the congregation I served as pastor for a dozen years and was refreshed by the community of Christ and a service of Lessons and Carols for Advent.

I was thirsty for Advent. I don’t buy into the paranoia pitched by Fox News about a so-called “war on Christmas,” but I do lament a […]

Ferguson Is Bigger than Any Grand Jury Decision

All this fuss over waiting for a grand jury decision!

But there is more to the story than Michael Brown lying dead and Darren Wilson having pulled the trigger. Of course the tragedy of that single death is immense. Of course the agony that Michael Brown’s family and friends are going through is unfathomable. So is […]

Jesus, Save Us From Your Followers!

I take the title of this post from a bumper sticker I saw years ago. It should make a comeback.

The 2012 election has made many cultural shifts in America obvious. Not least of these is the diminishment of the influence of the politically organized so-called Christian evangelicals and the Roman Catholic hierarchy. A front-page article […]

Things That Should Matter For Christians This Election

This Presidential election campaign has surfaced several things that I believe committed Christians should be alarmed about.

First is the wholesale bearing of false witness.

Our household has received via e-mails a number of forwarded messages about the Obama administration that are full of lies. One asserts that “Obamacare” is designed to cut seniors off from life-saving […]

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