Repent is a word that has fallen out of favor in our day (except among fire and brimstone preachers!). Repent is harsh sounding; we prefer softer, more soothing religious verbiage. Have we fallen into "easy believism" that recoils at the very...
It was said of 19th-century America that "the country is inhabited by saints, sinners, and Beechers." The famous preacher Lyman Beecher and his wife Roxanna had 13 children, many of whom became well-known American writers, preachers, and educators....
When an epidemic of yellow fever ravaged Memphis in 1878, half of its 40,000 residents fled the city. Anyone who could afford to escape did so, leaving the poor and disadvantaged to fend for themselves. Medical services were limited as many doctors...
Leo the Great (400-461) may be best known for his famed encounter with Attila the Hun in AD 452. Attila and his hordes had ransacked most of Italy and were now bearing down on Rome. Leo, in his lead role as Bishop of Rome, resolved to meet Attila...
A large contingent of women walked down Market Street in Pittsburgh arm-in-arm in 1873. They stopped at Sheffner's Saloon, but the saloonkeeper refused them entrance. The women circled at the curb, sang a hymn, and were led in prayer by a woman...
Near the end of Ignatius of Loyola's (1491-1556) Spiritual Exercises is a section titled "Some Thoughts Concerning Scruples." Scruple was a term Ignatius used to describe an excessive obsession or compulsion. He likened scrupulosity to becoming...
Lillian Thrasher (1887-1961) came to Egypt in 1910, convinced that God was directing her to serve in some mission capacity. An Egyptian man asked her to visit a dying woman. This poor dying woman received her visit and begged Lillian to care for...
T. S. Eliot concluded his poem Four Quartets with the memorable words: "And all...
Edward Grim visited Canterbury Cathedral in England on December 29, 1170. During evening vespers, four knights interrupted the service, looking for Thomas Becket (1120-1170) (later to be called "a Becket"). "Where is this Thomas Becket, traitor to...
People have strong music preferences. I watch the drama play out in churches in real-time. Some people are passionate about traditional music, while others are equally fervent about contemporary music. The same was true in sixteenth century...
It had been seven years since Okuhhatuh (O-kuh-ha-tah) or Making Medicine (1848-1931) had been with his Cheyenne people in Oklahoma. His fellow warriors had vivid memories of Making Medicine, leading them in battle to retaliate for white settlers...
In terms of the longest wait for posthumous recognition, perhaps the seventeenth century poet Thomas Traherne (1636-1674) wins the prize. He was virtually forgotten for two hundred years. Not much is known about him. He was the son of a shoemaker....
Here's a quote worth pondering: "Be yourself. Everyone else is taken." While it's commonly attributed to Oscar Wilde, no one is quite sure where the quote originates. The Psalmist expresses a similar sentiment, "I praise you, Lord, for I am...
When I was a pastoral newbie in the 1970s, the cathartic approach to anger was all the rage. The let-it-all-out method of venting anger was in vogue and counselors even created "rage rooms" so clients could blow off steam. Recent research has...
I've been reading the Old Testament book of Isaiah. There are parts of Isaiah I like, and sections I don't like. The prophet Isaiah doesn't hold back with judgment when God's people make a mess of things. As I came to Isaiah 33, I thought to...
I still possess a copy of the first sermon I preached when I was called to the pastorate. What strikes me as I reread it is my strong desire to be liked. While I tried to faithfully interpret Matthew 28, I cannot lie: I desperately wanted people to...
Psychiatrist and holocaust survivor Victor Frankl wrote a groundbreaking book in 1946, Man's Search for Meaning, referencing Frederich Nietzsche's quote, "He who has a why can bear with almost any how."What Prudence Randall (1803-1890) did in the...
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (1787-1851) was a twenty-eight-year-old seminary graduate waiting "for some decided indication of Providence as to the place of duty." While visiting a neighbor, Dr. Cogswell, near his home in Hartford, Thomas observed the...