Category: Religion
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Voting Election 2024
For months I have struggled with how to manage this election. I have hesitated to share my opinion because I try to respect others’ personal opinions, but I also have a right to share my thoughts—that is what we are guaranteed by our US Constitution. This election year feels precarious. I feel…
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Open Letter to Voters
Dear American Voters, On Tuesday, August 6, we go to the polls, not for a general election but for the primary elections. Before you begin voting, think carefully about the nation we have been for 200+ years and the nation we hope to be for another 200+ years. What has worked? The…
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Advent Thoughts: Week 4
Today is Christmas Eve and the fourth Sunday in Advent. Not much time between today and tomorrow, Christmas Day, which ends Advent, therefore, we finish Matt Rawle’s Experiencing Christmas: Christ in the Sights and Sounds of Advent. We have five senses by which we experience life: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. When I…
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Advent Reflections: Week 3
Here it is the third week of Advent and the last week to do all those holiday chores of which baking is probably my favorite. Baking those cookies, breads, and meals makes the season not to mention how delightful the house smells. This week Matt Rawle focuses on the taste of…
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Advent Thoughts: Week 2
Welcome to the second week of Advent. The first week the theme is hope. The second week focuses on peace; and this year we know peace is fragile as we witness the horrors in Europe and the Mideast. Please use extra prayer time to call for peace. The reflections this week are based…
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Advent Thoughts: Week 1
Earlier this fall, I began reading Richard Rohr’s The Universal Christ. I found myself reading what I have long believed—Christ is everywhere! Therefore, when I started looking for an Advent reading, this theme lead me to Matt Rawle’s Experience Christmas: Christ in the sights and Sounds of Advent. And so I started my reading. Week…
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Two sides of greatest gift: Giving love, receiving love
During the past few months, I have had the honor of officiating at two funerals, and yesterday I attended a third funeral. There is one resounding principle that keeps ringing in my ears: the greatest gift ever is love. Yesterday’s funeral was for a member of my church family of 28 years. I…
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How bucket list experience triggers reflection on faith
Recently my daughter and I made a trip to the Missouri Wildflower Nursery in Brazito, Missouri. This was her first visit, but my second one. The first trip to the nursery was in the early 1980’s with my mom. Mom loved nature and worked hard to make sure that native prairies were…
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Living Simply as Methodist
What if we lived our lives as simply Methodist? Recently, events I can’t understand shook my world. As I struggle to understand what has happened, know one thing: My life is founded on the principal that Jesus taught us: Love one another as we want to be loved. How difficult does life have…
Susandoodles 