There is a financial institution near our home which is always seeking new investors. The electronic, digital, crawler on their building – in addition to messaging the date, time, and temperature – promises a “free gift” to anyone who opens an account. In our challenging times it is certainly naïve to ask rhetorically or, heaven forbid,…
Each Christmas for the more than 70 years that I can remember, there has always been some cranky-pants Christian who will make the whiny comment that, “Well, they have taken Christ out of Christmas…again.” The comment always comes as a disparaging criticism of the commercialization of Christmas as well as the completely secularized celebration of…
Because the personal injury lawyer, Tim Misny, has law offices all over Ohio, it is likely that many reading this blog have seen his large billboard signs. Misny’s very large, no nonsense, earnest-looking, billboard picture gets your attention. With his arresting picture – including his impressively ringed finger pointing aggressively right at you, Misny’s slogan…
There are many things to worry about in life. The worrying does absolutely no good. Regardless, we all have our various worries or perhaps better expressed, concerns. Sometimes our concerns have a way of sapping our enthusiasm for living or clouding our sense of wonder and thanksgiving for life in general. The award winning singer and…
On October 4th Antonio Guterres, General Secretary of The United Nations, addressed the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly. As a part of his address Guterres made these most sobering observations and warnings of challenges facing our world: “Social media platforms are based on a model that monetizes outrage, anger, and negativity and buys…
It is a most disturbing conundrum. In the 2020 Presidential election, 85 percent of white, evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump. They cheered his MAGA perspective on America, and participated – and in many cases promoted – the idolatrous “Trumpism” which surrounded, and continues to surround, him. In regard to having their support, it did not…
In the year 2000, after a very competitive selection process among a number of competing cities, Cleveland was chosen by the site selection committee of the denomination, to be the location of the world-wide gathering of The United Methodist Church. So, in May of that year, United Methodist delegations from Annual Conferences all over the…
One of the recurring phrases heard or read in commentary on modern American life is “the battle for the soul of America.” It has been a campaign slogan for some candidates. It is a description used by some to articulate the conflicting agendas of warring participants – willing or disinterested yet affected – by the…
On June 21, 2022, Rusty Bowers, the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, testified before the January 6th Commission of the United States House of Representatives. His sworn testimony about his refusal to go along with an illegal scheme to replace Arizona’s legal slate of electors with a false slate of Trump supporters included this…
In the horrific wake of mass shootings and any number of unfathomable human acts resulting in searing loss and grief, it has become common to hear and read the phrase, “thoughts and prayers.” The phrase however – hopefully well-intended by most of those who use it – is another casualty to mass shootings. Instead of…