For now we see through a glass, darkly

Open church in Finland

This is an odd church if that is what it really is.   First it is tiny, and second it is open to the elements on two sides. They heat it, as you can see below, by open fire. While it calls itself a “church” there are also no crosses or religious decorations or carvings, thus I think it is really a pagan gathering spot and using the word church loosely.

Finnish architect Malin Moisio…

Pocket Psalm 68 – Princes from Egypt

This is the last of our preview of 40 Pocket Prayers and is based on Psalm 68. One thing not mentioned by Rev. Lucado is this

31 Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.

Psalm 68 KJV

Seems to me an odd omission.

Movie: As Good as it Gets

As Good as It Gets 7-21-2013

The Roger Ebert film site reviewed this back in 1997, read it here, but I did not catch it then though I think my mother and her friend Eileen did. They liked it which may be why I decided to try it now. So, finally I got to see this soapy 16 years later. Ebert’s review felt it was a compromise, I think it was plain boring, white bread with store bought eggs all…

The movie is a documentary about Christo, yes that is his real name, the installation artist. I was interested as i had walked the Gates in Central Park several years ago, so I was curious about the man and his art.

It seems he was a real artist at one time but someone along the way he got this idea of large architectural installations. He does not really explain that transformation which…

Pocket 1 Corinthians 8

Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J. (Jesuit) writes that 1 Cor 8–10 should be compared with Rom 14:1–15:6 because it is the same theme. The difference is Romans being the later of the two epistles, is a thematic recap of Corinthians i.e. Romans boils down the essence of Corinthians and crystallizes it in a pithy and memorable way.

5, For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or…

Rockford files Jim Garner has reposed

James Garner, best known as the amiable gambler Bret Maverick in the 1950s western “Maverick” and the cranky sleuth Jim Rockford in the 1970s series “The Rockford Files,” died on Saturday night at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86 and had had a major stroke  years ago.

the Polaroid commercials

One of his most memorable roles was as a perpetually flummoxed pitchman for…

New Life Bible everywhere

OliveTree, the bible app from HarperCollins, is selling the e-version of New Life Bible for 5.00. To take advantage of the sale you need to download the free app from OliveTree nd then buy the New Life version through your appropriate store. The app is pretty nice, it runs on iOs, Windows, Android and Kindle and they give you some bibles and reading material thrown in.

Unfortunately they do…

Pocket Prayer: Isaiah 9 and the Prince of Peace

A famous passage thanks to Handel’s Messiah. The Cambridge Bible writes that ” for unto us” refers to the survivors of the judgment. and the name “Immanuel,” means “God is with us.”

and the government

Now here is the odd phrase “and the government wil be upon his shoulders] Odd because what government does Isaiah mean? It is found only here and Isaiah 9:7. Cambridge’s best…

Christmas…the aftermath

While watching Bill Murray’s Scrooge & decorating the tree,  my wondering eyes befell, a small squat box that I much neither remember buying nor placing there at all. What could this small square box be? Nothing I asked for, I had gotten three packages back, a mistake perhaps or package I had … no I don’t need that flak. Scared to rattle it is sturdy box form, I took to the box cutters and ripped…

40 Pocket Prayers: Romans8

Reverend Adam Clarke gets the nod on this prayer from Lucado. Clarke was a Methodist minister and Bible scholar; his full Bible commentary is well known and where we get the explanation of the Biblical verse the “Spirit of Adoption” means. Clarke writes this is about where frequent a person was taken out of one family and incorporated with another.

In Greek, Hebrew and later Roman…

Spurgeon on Matthew 6:9

In comparing Lucado to Spurgeon, here is Spurgeon’s version, part of his Morning and Evening Prayers book.

Morning, October 29

“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, etc.”

Matthew 6:9

This prayer begins where all true prayer must commence, with the spirit of adoption, “Our Father.” There is no acceptable prayer until we can say, “I will arise, and go…

Max Lucado and his 40 prayers

Max Lucado was born January 11, 1955 in Texas. From his biography, I think he was raised Pentecostal and his family was Spanish-Mexican but he never tells you that, a major reason I do not care for him — he hides too much in sanctimony. Nonetheless, I know I am alone, so I’ll highlight some of Pocket Prayers for those eager to learn more from him.

Max calling

Proclamation Bible and Fear

ChristianBook.com had a sale on Bibles for Christmas so I got a few. I did not really get to view them all because I fell in love with one — the Proclamation Bible. It surprises me because it is an NIV variant ala the UK. I think the Brits did a better job with the “translation” than the Americans did and I have been enjoying reading it. I started with a program from ESV.org and read all of…

What to give up for Lent?

The Lenten Poem by A.E. Housman

Tis spring; come out to ramble  The hilly brakes around,  For under thorn and bramble  About the hollow ground  The primroses are found.  And there’s the windflower chilly  With all the winds at play,  And there’s the Lenten lily  That has not long to stay  And dies on Easter day.  And since till girls go maying  You find the primrose still,  And find the windflower playing  With every wind at will,  But not…

Bannon and the Vatican

https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/steve-bannons-roman-holiday?utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_041119&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bea114f24c17c6adf1c5bf6&user_id=46601923&esrc=&utm_term=TNY_Daily