More from Emil Brunner. The biological fact of death, the extinction of life, is only a shell or container and at the same time symptom and effect of something rooted deep in the spiritual history of man and humanity, just as my own bodily life is only the bearer and […]
Life
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I wrote years ago on a personal theory about “when” resurrection occurs in “’Soul Sleep’ or Immediate Resurrection?” Over the years it has, for obvious reasons, become a subject I have thought about often, but until this week no one had pointed out other scholars with similar views. I never thought I […]
We were assigned to read Bridge to Terabithia when I was in 4th or 5th grade. It was and is an incredibly powerful book. Now, what?, 35 years later I can still remember almost every detail of the book. Even though I could never bring myself to read it more than […]
Today is All Souls’ Day, not celebrated by most Protestants, but as my wife noted this morning, when you have lost someone very close and dear you begin to view such things differently. I still do not believe in Purgatory and recognize that much of the traditions of All Souls or […]
Getting ready in the hotel room this morning ESPN just played one of their “My Wish” pieces, a story about a young boy with a rare form of lymphoma who is “drafted” by the Carolina Panthers. I have very complicated and mixed feelings when I see these stories. First, of […]
My wife receives the daily meditation from the Henri Nuewen Society. She shared this morning’s with me and I thought I would pass it along. It is especially poignant, not just for our own continued grieving process, but this week we are remembering a young student who died last week, […]
I would be lying if I said it wasn’t hard to see all the elementary school kids, Mack’s classmates, get on the bus for the new year without him. It is hard to see all the pictures on Facebook that our friends are posting of their kids and grandkids getting on […]
Today I was talking with a colleague about another tragic death of a young person. The runner collapsed and died during the Pittsburgh Marathon apparently with a “coronary artery abnormality.” No one was to blame for his death. He was born with this condition, although he was unaware of it. […]
The following is my sermon from this past Sunday. As you can see in the first paragraph, I am somewhat apologetic about the fact that I cannot read and reflect on our current readings without thinking of Mack and our loss. Then again, I realized that this is precisely what […]
I don’t think I am still ready to write much of substance but I did notice that the most recent Coffee With Jesus was relevant and poignant even. Where is God in the real world? “I am deep in the sorrow.” So am I.