And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last! – from “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr. Aug. 28, 1963
In elementary school, my friends and I played sports during nearly every recess. A team captain usually picked me somewhere in the middle; nobody wants to be picked last. Most of us did not care which team we played for; we always played our best, knowing that new teams would be chosen next recess. Playing to the best of one’s ability could mean the difference between moving up or down in the picking order.
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| Picking Teams – photo by Todd Dailey c. 2009 |
Someone posed the following question to me. If you had to choose one of these two people to narrate the story of your life which would you choose: Morgan Freeman or Jame Earl Jones?
While looking for some music to play on New Year’s Day, I happen to put in Charlie Peacock‘s Kingdom Come. The track Is the Brightness Still In Me?always prompts me to evaluate my walk with God, an appropriate action to take in this time when we make resolutions and goals. However, this song struck me differently than it had in the past. Continue reading Is the Brightness Still In Me?
I enjoy The Matrix movies. I remember watching the original movie release around Easter in 1999, and being pleasantly surprised at all the parallels between the stories of Jesus and Neo. Choi even says these words to Neo “Hallelujah. You’re my savior, man. My own personal Jesus Christ.” Continue reading Call to Worship: Epiphany
Probably everyone who wanted to read Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz, has already read it, but I was not interested in the book until I realized that Miller also wrote Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance (retitled Through Painted Deserts), which I really enjoyed and is a standard present I give to graduates. Then, between seminary reading and awaiting a copy from Paperback Swap, I just recently got around to reading Blue Like Jazz.
My blog has been going for a couple of years now, and I have a few readers. I have been waiting for someone to point out that the URL for this blog references Acts 2:17, but the title references 1 Corinthians 14:19. Did anyone catch this? Did anyone care? Did anyone find any meaning in my choices? I think the fact that it has not come up says more about the number of readers (or lack thereof) I have, than of biblical literacy, but maybe it is a little of both.
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| copyright 2008 Nick Hobart |
I have heard of families who do not place the baby Jesus in their nativity until Christmas day. I like that tradition. (Unfortunately we cannot do this because in our nativity set Mary and the baby Jesus are one piece.) So many things are anticipated before Christmas: vacation time, holiday meals, Santa Claus, presents (giving and receiving), the Christmas tree, lights, time with family and friends, parties, Christmas cards in the mail, Christmas stockings, snow, caroling, candlelight Christmas Eve services, Christmas musicals or plays, “The Nutcracker”, books (The Night Before Christmas, A Christmas Carol, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas), special Christmas television and movies (Charlie Brown, Rudolf, Frosty, “Miracle on 34th Street,” “A Christmas Story,” and Santa riding a Norelco razor), Continue reading Call to Worship: Christmas Day
Greek mythology is full of stories where the various gods leave Olympus and go slumming around with mere mortals. Despite their great powers, life on Mount Olympus apparently lacks fulfillment (usually sexual fulfillment), so the gods come to earth, to make and test heroes, and interfere in affairs of households and wars. One could argue that the Greek gods spend more of their time on earth than on Mount Olympus; life on earth must seem pretty good to them. Continue reading Call to Worship: Fourth Sunday of Advent
I am eagerly awaiting the release of Peter Jackson’s screen adaptations of The Hobbit (An Unexpected Journey and There and Back Again). I read Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit Blog and Sir Ian McKellen’s Hobbit Blog not as spoilers, especially since I have already read the book, but to whet my appetite for a couple of movies I believe will be exceptional. Continue reading Call to Worship: Third Sunday of Advent