In July of 2006, Hezbollah terrorists from Lebanon, attacked northern Israel. Their first target? Not Israeli soldiers or military defense positions. No. Hezbollah terrorists bombed B’nai Zion Medical Center in Haifa. This act initiated a war between Israel and Lebanon that was finally ended with a UN brokered cease fire on August 14, 2006. The…
In the Christian Bible there are a total of 31,102 verses. Only 11 of those verses have as their subject matter sexual activity between persons of the same gender. ELEVEN! None of those 11 verses has anything to do with our contemporary understandings of the complexities of human sexuality or gender identity. Each of those…
Several Saturday mornings ago my wife and I went out for breakfast. So did a great many other people! But regardless, we put our name on the restaurant waiting list for an available table and settled in to listening mode for our name to be called. Ahead of us was a large family and friends…
Several news media and most certainly on the NBC Nightly News, news anchors Lester Holt, Jose Diaz-Balart or Kate Snow will warn viewers that an upcoming story contains images which some “might find disturbing.” Really? It must be network policy to issue this warning before some judged to be particularly unsettling, televised mayhem is about…
In 1988, British writer, Roald Dahl wrote a children’s novel, Matilda. It is a story of a brilliant little girl who loves books and lives with uncaring parents. The novel has been adapted in several venues, most recently in the 2022 original Netflix film, “Matilda The Musical.” In “Matilda The Musical” Irish, child singer, and…
In 1968 a graduate student at the University of Southern California was in love with a young woman who was also a student at USC. While she enjoyed dating this young man, she also had other relationships in her life. This graduate student was a very troubled young man. He could not understand how her feelings…
One of the news feeds which takes up space in my inbox each morning highlights headline stories and events. Those highlights are often announced under a banner headline which reads, “Here’s what you need to know.” Highlights and summaries can be very helpful if one has trust in those who are preparing the highlights and…
The numbers are not exact. But in our time of assessing the numbers of people watching television for any given program, the estimates of numbers of viewers for any one program are close. According to Nielson Ratings then, it seems that I was one of nearly 30 million people in the United Kingdom and the…
Several weeks ago I had an extensive oral surgery procedure. The recovery period has had some unanticipated challenges the result of which is that, among other things, a liquid diet has been my daily experience for nearly a month. The months ahead will not be appreciatively different. I AM NOT COMPLAINING. ONLY REPORTING. The end…
Many years ago, there was a prominent member of the congregation I was serving who had definite, regularly voiced opinions about people who only showed up for church services on Easter Sunday. This congregant would announce that he – unlike his usual attendance on every other Sunday of the year – would not be attending…