Ecclesiastes 12:10

    On May 31 st, 1848 the home of John Fox began to experience strange rapping noise. Mrs. Fox, described as gullible and excitable, told the neighbors about the unusual phenomenon. They of course wanted to hear for themselves. The noises seemed to center on the two daughters Margaret, age 8, and Kate, 6. The noises seemed random and mysterious until someone suggested a simple code, which allowed the raps to answer questions. Slowly the family and visitors to the house were made to understand that a disembodied spirit was generating the sound.   An older married sister, Leah, returned for a visit and discovered the local interest in the strange raps. She quickly organized a Society of Spiritualists and took charge of her young sisters, promoting their occult powers. For a hefty fee, audiences could commune with the spirits and ask their own questions.   The girls became the center not only of a Victorian fad, but also a religious cause. The new religion ...

  I was once in a community where a lady told me that people there were either from ‘around here’ or from ‘off’. She said she had moved there 30 years before but people still said she was from ’off’.   It can be hard for an outsider to be accepted in a place. Sometimes that's because of the closed-off nature of the community and other times it's because the new person chooses to stay distant.   For the Christan, we are called to be ‘off’. In 1 st Peter 2:11-12 we read: “ Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation .”   Here we are called to be strangers to the world, not as unknown but as those that live differently. We are to be known enough that they see our behavior but separate enough that...

   There is a new phenomenon that some are calling death by GPS, deaths of people attributable, in part, to following GPS directions or GPS maps. Global positioning system or GPS is a revolutionary technology developed for the military that now is used by millions in car navigation systems and programs like Google Maps. They allow the computer to navigate a person with step-by-step directions on their travel.   The problem is the directions are not always spot on and in some places, like Death Valley or Joshua Tree Park, it can lead to death. People are reluctant to deviate from the prescribed path even when what was in front of them, such as road signs and signals, barriers, and terrain warn them of continuing.   Following in another’s steps is great but only when the one laying them out knows where they are at and where they are going.   This is an issue in religion today. Many follow a path because a leader or family member has told them this is t...

   The nature of family has changed significantly in the new millennium. The number of unmarried partners living together in the United States nearly tripled in two decades from 6 million to 17 million as of 2019. Estimates show that about 40 percent of births in the United States occur outside of marriage, up from 28 percent in 1990. The structure and stability of the home is weaker than ever.   For some, this might not be alarming. The rhetoric is that this “new normal” is more inclusive and diverse and opens people to more freedom of choice. Polls show that large majorities believe society “should value all types of families” and cohabiting couples should receive the same benefits as a married couple. Also, a majority consider living in unmarried households as having either no effect or a positive effect on children.   But the facts don’t bear that out.  Researchers have consistently found that children born outside marriage face elevated risks of falli...