What do we do as Christians if someone does something hateful in the name of Christ? PJ asks this question while looking at the actions of a pastor in Florida whose actions led to the death of…

This 14th book of the year, A Sacred Meal by Nora Gallagher is part of the ancient practices series and was quite enjoyable. Gallagher takes us through the practice of communion from the perspective of a lay person giving communion on Christmas Eve and goes into her experiences at her church’s soup supper.

Honestly, I wasn’t entirely into the book from the get go, but once I saw her flow, it became one of my favorite books. So much so that I copied some quotes from the book to save for another time (a big deal for those that don’t know me).

I especially liked her idea that communion doesn’t just end with the taking of communion and then sitting down, but rather goes out into the world showing the connectedness of all humans.

Some people may not like her statements regarding communion being for everyone, but those are the people that need to read this book.

It is extremely short too, but does contain a study guide, so it was meant to be studied in a church setting. I would pick this up for a group to study or if it is for self reading pick it up at a library as you will finish it in half a day, but it does have some great quotes.

His home life also isn’t that great.  His wife and he have a sexless marriage, his son asks some very odd questions of him regularly, and he fantasizes about his co-worker Vargina (whose name got changed because of a kind hearted nurse who added the “r” in her name)

After being fired, he gets rehired but only for one Ask who has the potential to become a giant give.  The ask is a former friend from college who requested Milo by name.  From there is where the book takes off.

I loved the supporting characters in this book!  From Milo’s son to Don to the other characters that Milo runs across, all of them are great!  In fact, it is the reason why I would recommend the book.

There is a good wit that runs through the entire book which made me keep reading.  The story to tell the truth wasn’t outstanding, but the humor and the characters kept me going.

I can definitely see why it made many people’s best of list, but it has probably been very overlooked.  This is why I am saying, pick this one up!  In fact, use the link I provided and it helps me too

Before I came to Rochester, I had a Superman logo shirt that I kind of liked. I would pose often taking my glasses off, shirt unbuttoned, and revealing a Superman logo shirt. There is a picture of me starting to gain some serious weight in the same pose. It wasn’t pretty. I “retired” the shirt not feeling like a Superman anymore.

My first goal in this whole thing was to get to seminary weight. To tell the truth, I didn’t think I could do it, so when people would ask me what my goal was this was my answer. Then earlier in the month, I actually did it with a bit of shock and much rejoicing.

It was then CROP walk time, so I pushed myself to try a 3 mile walk a day. Again not thinking I would be able to do it, sense some self doubt here? I actually did start to get to 3 miles a day without running out of too much breath. The CROP walk came and went and it was all good!

I put on Facebook that I didn’t have a challenge. A fellow pastor wrote, why don’t you go for a 5K run? I don’t know if it was written humorously or encouragingly, I am going with the later, so I am going to attempt the challenge. I have possibly another CROP walk coming later in Spring, so I even have a time line goal. I am not going to push too hard with this one, but take my time, but I am going to try to start building up to a jog again. It won’t be an official 5K, but that is the goal caring for my knees and stopping if it becomes too much, I have a job you know!

So, while I was doing this first attempt, I thought “What is my next really big goal though?” since I really didn’t have one. That is when the big letter “S” popped into my head. Become “Superman” again! (I am not delusional, just fun). So, when 100 lbs lost is complete, I will purchase for myself a Superman shirt again and that will be my new picture. It might take a year or two, but it is kind of a fun goal. So, I am at 47lbs lost which means 53 to go!

Wanna join me in the challenge? We might even get a Bishop to arrive at St Timothy if the goal is reached. Hmmmm.

This is the sermon for Sunday March 6, 2011 preached by Georgia Schmidt on Ascension Sunday. We hope you enjoy the sermon!

This is the sermon for Sunday March 13, 2011 relecting on Matthew 4:1-11. We hope you enjoy the sermon!

This is the sermon for Sunday March 20, 2011 based on the Gospel of John the 3rd chapter. We hope you enjoy the sermon!

Rob Bell is of course pretty big in the Christian celebrity world.  His Nooma series sells like crazy, he is often on big preaching circuits, and he has a pretty big following, not to mention his church.  So, to try to knock him down with a false accusation makes sense for people who are either trying to build themselves up, who haven’t read the book, or are trying to besmirch Bell’s credibility as a Christian.

What Bell does in the book though is simply question, as he usually does.  This time though he is questioning some pretty heavy evangelical theology and essentially saying “This doesn’t make sense” and I think that is why there is a small scramble to ruin Bell’s reputation.  He uses Biblical Criticism to make his points, showing for instance where every mention of Hell is in the Bible and writing about how the original hearer might have heard this.

To those that went to an accredited seminary, this is nothing new, so it wasn’t revolutionary what he was doing to someone like me, but the idea of Biblical criticism is making pretty big headway it seems in evangelical circles which is making some nervous.

As I wrote, Bell is hitting some major theology in heaven, hell, grace, etc and then looking at the evangelical stance on such things and asking pretty tough questions.  For example, Bell looks at some churches that proclaim God will condemn half of the world to hell because they are not Christian and then asks simply- “Would God do such a thing to his creation?”  I think this is why some evangelicals want to go on the attack.  When one of their own pokes holes in their theology, especially one who is as popular as Bell, I imagine sweat starts on the brow a bit.

I didn’t necessarily agree with some of the points that Bell makes in this book, but that is the fun of Biblical criticism.  He does some pretty good word studies from Greek which is worth a read.  Overall, I would recommend it, but maybe from a library since it is only 200 pages (What’s with Christian authors and only 200 pages?!?)