I just finished reading A Column of Fire, the third of Ken Follett’s volumes of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages. This one portrays life in the 1500’s in the wake of Catholic Priest Father Martin Luther’s October 31, 1517, courageous attempt to inspire reform of his church. Follett’s novel and all the current celebration […]
My Mother, Wilma Irene Shelley (Brownie) Williams was born January 9, 1921 and died September 20, 2017. This is a remembrance and tribute I read at her funeral. _______________________________________ When I think of growing up with my mother, both of us young but I younger, I am very thankful for the sometimes unjustified trust she […]
Hearing Sacred Scripture is a key element of Catholic worship. Usually, from the Old Testament, we hear a reading from the Law, Prophets, or Writings and sing a Psalm responsively. Then we hear a reading from one of the New Testament books other than the Gospels. Finally a selection from one of the Gospels is […]
I was thinking this morning about the church of my youth and the Southern Baptist Sunday School which was the center of it. There was the Six Point Record System, the extensive organization, class officers, weekly Teachers’ Meetings, Assemblies, rigorous age grading, separation of men and women, the weekly Sunday School Report at the following […]
A Peter Beinart article in the April 2017 issue of The Atlantic points out a correlation between the increasingly vicious and hateful political climate in the USA and decreasing participation in organized religion. The differences in positions between left and right have always been present, but we seem to be losing respect for each other and, […]
I was having trouble understanding the man, but I believe his last words as the police walked up were, “I’m down to my last two dollars.” One of my favorite workouts is a five mile or so walk in the City of Columbia at a 17 minute per mile pace. It is a good time […]
It was the fall of 1990, and I was in a new member class led by Pastor Saresky at Faith Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) in Penfield, NY. He was discussing Communion, The Lord’s Supper, Eucharist, the celebration of that Last Supper Jesus celebrated in the Upper Room with his closest followers and commanded that they […]
It’s 10pm in the parking lot of a hotel, and we are just arriving, tired and looking for a good night’s sleep. A minivan pulls up, window down, and a young Black woman says, “Sir, I’m not asking for any money or anything but we just need a place to sleep tonight. We can check […]
At Pentecost, 2011, I was received into full communion with the Catholic Church at St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Columbia, SC. From a purely logical standpoint, I had concluded, hopefully under the influence of The Holy Spirit, that Jesus established The Church, His “Body,” and left Apostles in charge, promising the guidance of The Holy Spirit, […]
Matthew 24:23 – Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’– do not believe it. James 2:19 – You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe– and shudder. John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten […]