Celtic Odyssey

  On Sunday, 07 August, I spoke at Morning Star Center for Spiritual Living . Here’s a link to the service . My talk starts at roughly the 26 minute mark and lasts about 20 minutes. Below is the transcript of my talk.                                     Thank you, Sara, for inviting me back to speak today. And thank you all for having me.  I’d like to start today by quoting from the singer / songwriter (and I would contend part-time prophet), Trevor Hall . Trevor ends his song, Different Hunger , with these words —  … Be humbler than a blade of grass Be patient and forgiving like a tree …  The time has come to speak of this love Speak of this love, speak of this love. [1] And that’s what I’m going to do today — “speak of this love.” And the Love I want to talk about is God’s Love. So what is God’s Love and how do we experience it? My wife and I have finished reading Mary Magdale...

Recently, my friend Jim and I were on Rick Fry’s podcast, Inside the Man Box . The topic was the diversity within the Christian family that stretches from annihilation on one end and universalism on the other. Jim and I are on the end of Universal Redemption (universalism). During the conversation, Rick asked, “What about the branches?” While we addressed that briefly, I don’t feel we did it any justice. So I’d like to flesh out my thoughts here. There are a couple of places in the New Testament that refer to branches — John 15 and Romans 11 . We’ll address John first, which is the passage I believe Rick was meaning. In John 15, Jesus said —  “I’m the true vine, and my Abba is the vine grower 2 who cuts off every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, but prunes the fruitful ones to increase their yield. 3 You’ve been pruned already, thanks to the word that I’ve spoken to you. 4 Live on in me, as I do in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself apart from the vine, neither...

  John 2.13-22 (CEB): [1] It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 He found in the temple those who were selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as those involved in exchanging currency sitting there. 15 He made a whip from ropes and chased them all out of the temple, including the cattle and the sheep. He scattered the coins and overturned the tables of those who exchanged currency. 16 He said to the dove sellers, “Get these things out of here! Don’t make Abba’s house a place of business.” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written, Passion for your house consumes me. 18 Then the Jewish leaders asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things? What miraculous sign will you show us?” 19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.” 20 The Jewish leaders replied, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?” 21 But the temple Jesus was talking about was his body....