Word a particularly bad choice
Author Jonah Lehrer has written a book on how to foster and encourage creativity. As one who preaches and writes weekly I need all the creativity I can get and someday I may pick up his book, though it would have been sooner except for one unnecessary word in the book’s excerpt in the March 10-11, 2012 Wall Street Journal.
Doing without food takes doing
I’ll eventually order the book because of the absolutely creative title: “Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor” by Jana Riess. Ms. Reiss focused on a different spiritual practice each month for a year, documenting her failures and successes in this book.
Iron chain song turns to platinum
Sometimes it takes a long time for a story to develop and what looks bleak at the time can turn out very differently.
Here are a few words of praise...
How many controversial topics can one list regarding faith and values right now? It’s enough to make one want to crawl in a cave until the presidential election is over.
Contraceptive issue a complex one
The national health insurance plan has created another controversy with the Obama administration’s proposed rules mandating that charitable religious agencies (hospitals, colleges, etc.) provide preventative women’s health options (contraceptives, morning-after pills). Religious people with strong opinions are angry, indignant and inflexible. (Take the Quik Quiz by going to Creede Hinshaw's column.)
Don't be afraid to ask questions
I write in praise of asking questions. (Who asked the first question in the Bible? Click on Creede's column and take the quiz to find out.)
Tebow verbalizes his faith
What if your surname became so common — due to your behavior — that it became a verb?
Government officials need prayer, too
Do you pray for those who in serve in our government? At the dawn of what will prove to be a long year of focusing on government at every level, one of the most important things the ordinary citizen can do is to pray steadfastly and consistently for our leaders and those who seek to be leaders.
Angels come in so many forms
The Christmas story is replete with angels, those mysterious celestial beings known to Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Star shone brightly over Bethlehem
‘Tis the season when the Christian world remembers a star that shone brightly over a manger at Bethlehem, pointing the way for wise men from the east to pay homage to the newborn Jesus (Matthew 2).
A silent night isn’t easily found
Tony Perrottet recounts his hike to the floor of Maui’s Haleakala crater, a dormant Hawaiian volcano (“Into the Volcano,” Smithsonian, December 2011) where “... the silence is absolute.
No victors in church vs. church
A friend handed me a grocery bag full of accusations, suspicion and indignation last week.
Church fight more than brick and mortar
Earlier this week in Christ Church in Savannah et al. v. Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia the Georgia Supreme Court ruled decisively in favor of the Episcopal Church USA, perhaps bringing a long legal battle over the ownership of an historic Savannah church property to an imminent conclusion.
