Here is an insightful definition of a victim from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.  “Defining yourself as a victim is a denial of what makes us human.  We see ourselves as objects, not subjects.  We become done-to; passive, not active.  Blame bars the path to responsibility. The victim, ascribing his condition to others, locates the cause of…

Kurt Schlichter caught my attention with an article he wrote about men entitled, “Being a man and having a traditional family is a rebel act.”  He writes: “being a man – not merely bearing the physical accoutrements of maleness but actually being a man – is a rebel act.  By being man, you reject the…

The response in  the New York Daily News, to the tragic shootings  recently in San Bernardino, Cal., seems almost blasphemes.  The headlines declared “God isn’t fixing this.”  What arrogance and presumption. They gave a round-up of responses from the various candidates and then gave this assessment: “Prayers aren’t working.” What spiritual blindness.  That prompted a new social…

Shortly after I retired, I led an intercessory prayer group in our church to pray specifically for the transition period as we called a new pastor. Toward the end of our prayer time, the words “rightly ordering our relationships” came to mind. As I thought about that phrase, I sensed that it applied to relationships between…

This blog is an interlude, in which I would like to reflect on my blog  with the readers. “The Sovereign lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.  He awakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught” (Is 50:4). These words have…

Men there is no neutral ground in our spiritual journey today. Jesus declares, “This is war, and there is no neutral ground.  If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse” (Luke  11:23 – The Message).  In Matthew 10: 22-23 we are exhorted to be survivors. “When…

The following quote from Thomas Merton has stuck with me for many years.  In these later years it makes more experiential sense.  “Therefore there is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace, and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God.  If I find Him I will find myself and if…

This blog is written just after Halloween.  I was struck by the contrast between the controversy this Halloween on university and college campuses regarding costumes that might be offensive and the fun I  had in my last church with over 40 senior members of my church, who came to our retreat house dressed in some…

Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning in a paper entitled, “Microaggression and Moral Culture” contend that we’re in the midst of a key cultural change in our culture.  Prior to the 18th and 19th centuries we live in an “honor culture” in which people earned honor and were called upon to avenge insults to their honor…

In the recent mass shooting in Roseberg, Oregon, among the survivors was one man whose heroic action gained national attention.  Chris Mintz, a 30 year-old former Army infantryman, was shot five times while attempting to protect his fellow students.  Mintz has been hailed a hero. The day after the shooting he said, “I just hope…