This week’s Sunday Blast for the week of 3-19-2023 pays tribute to the healthcare professionals who have been called to provide unprecedented help to those suffering during the pandemic. Many medical providers still trudge on despite the hardships they have endured over the past three years.
This week’s Blast focuses on “doubt.” Probably the most famous story about “doubt” in the New Testament is in Matthew 14:22-33, the story of Jesus walking on water. How we treat our doubts is important: either we criticize ourselves and feel guilty or we explore our doubts honestly. The second option is what makes our faith grow!
This week’s Sunday Blast discusses the purpose of Lent and how we might approach it. There is also a short suggestion on how to read scripture more deeply if regular Bible reading is something you are practicing during Lent!
This week’s Sunday Blast, coming to you early, will conclude our discussion of the Folktale “To Live a Good Life” by summarizing Elijah’s answers to three questions: When is the most important time? Who is the most important person? And, what is the most important thing to do? And the Blast is early this week because we are preparing to begin the season of Lent which starts next Wednesday February 22, Ash Wednesday. You will receive a short email message about the season of Lent on Sunday 2-19, and there will be a short compline service recording available the evening of Ash Wednesday, 2-22. I will email a copy of the service to you on Wednesday so you can participate in the service.
This week’s Sunday Blast discusses Elijah’s answer to the 2nd question in the folktale “Who is the most important person?” You will notice that this question and answer neatly follows the first question and answer “When is the most important time? NOW!” Next week’s Blast will end the folktale discussion with the answer to the 3rd question “What is the most important thing to do?”
How did you answer last week’s question “What is the most important time?” With a phase or stage of life, like childhood, adulthood, parenthood, retirement? Or with an event like a special vacation, graduation, marriage, birthday? Did you discover you spend way too much time regretting things from the past or worrying about the future? The answer to this question that Elijah gave the King has a different perspective, and this week’s Sunday Blast will explore the answer using several Biblical passages, which we can consider “Wisdom Literature.”
This week’s Sunday Blast introduces us to the Yiddish folk tale “The King Who Searched for the Way to Live a Good Life,” where we will discover three important questions key to living a good life. After this week’s story, the next three Sunday Blasts will dig deeper into the answers for those three questions. Folk tales are usually avenues to wisdom. These down-to-earth stories reveal the morals, ethics, spirituality, and religious beliefs and faith of both the community and the individuals in the stories. Judaism has been described as “a religion of questions,” and we could say the same thing about Christianity. We can also think of Judaism and Christianity as religions of stories. Before you read this week’s Sunday Blast, think for a moment of the stories you remember about Jesus and the questions addressed to him in the Gospels.
This week’s Sunday “Blast” looks at what is behind the song “Turn, Turn, Turn” performed by Dave Crosby, who died this week, and whose music reached thousands of people in the 1960’s and 1970’s. In your prayers this week I ask that you remember to include all the people traveling at this time who are venturing out in bad weather. Also, please remember those suffering from natural disasters in the US and around the world and the people of Ukraine and Russia.
Last week’s Sunday Blast about “Gaslighting” generated several appreciated comments! Gaslighting is a *big* topic, and to make matters worse, it is not consistently defined and is understood different ways. This week I will highlight some ideas found in religious/spiritual/Biblical counselling communities with the intention of zeroing in on what gaslighting means to Christian communities.
This year the focus of the Sunday Blasts will be different: rather than a single theme, they will be about (1) current events and Scripture or (2) based on my “folder which have things that I have put off doing, but intend to look at through this year”. (articles, books, etc.) And there is always room for your comments and input! The 1-8-2023 Sunday Blast will react to the “2022 Word-of-the Year: Gaslighting.” I have a very strong reaction to the word and the idea behind it.
