Oak Ridge Today

Faith column: Dimensions of the Resurrection

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Resurrection

On several occasions, I have stood beside empty tombs or graves. I have seen the incredulous, empty stares of shocked family members forced to bury a loved one. Many times the death has been untimely and seemingly unfair. It is hard to make sense of death. But its pain can be absorbed by the promise of resurrection. The apostle Paul reminds us that everything truly stands or falls on the resurrection.

This holiday (holy-day) comes around annually. It is never on the same Sunday, and sometimes I am amazed at either how early or how late it is for that particular calendar year. Teachers and students eagerly anticipate its appearance on the calendar for Spring Break. Though hardly ever on the same date, it comes around like clockwork. But its annual appearance is obscured by the fact that it falls in line with a host of regular holidays. We often know that it comes around spring time, and before Mother’s Day. [Read more…]

Faith column: Highland View Church of Christ record year, hearts of hospitality

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Second Harvest Delivery TruckThe faces are eagerly anticipating the needed food. As individuals line up every Thursday to receive the bag of groceries provided, words of thanks and gratitude are expressed. Retired men and hungry families are joined together in common care and genuine response.

Times are tough for families in the Oak Ridge area. This difficult set of circumstances is felt at the family breakfast, lunch, and dinner table daily. With mouths to feed and bills to pay, so many families are feeling the anguish of the crunch that only seems to be ever tightening around their pocketbooks and their hearts. It is to this situation that the retired men of the Highland View Church of Christ have responded to the call that God has placed on their hearts.

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Faith column: Visit to catacombs replica, reflection on early Christians

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Catacombs of Rome

Catacombs of Rome (Submitted photo)

This past week, I had the opportunity to visit an exact replica of the ancient catacombs found outside Rome. It was to scale, along with the type of rock excavated and the art and graphics on the rock walls. The frescoes are copies of the originals.

There were a couple of authentic items, one being the actual body of an 8-year-old boy martyred in Rome. His body was wrapped in fine clothes and a stately outfit, but you could see his mummified hands and feet with the bones showing. It was humbling and eerie to be actually looking at the body of young man from a Christian family almost 2,000 years old. He is known as St. Innocent.

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Faith column: When not to be bold

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In his letter to Philemon, Paul says, “…Though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you…” (vv. 8,9).

This admission by the apostle Paul is amazing! It gives us an insight into a style of leadership that separates it from many other styles. Usually bosses and managers will use any method necessary to get people to do what is required. The church is different. Ministers, teachers, pastors, elders, deacons, ministry leaders, etc.: We all can take a lesson from brother Paul.

Think of the power of love as an appeal. Individuals and groups respond more positively to appeals coming from a heart of love. Several times in Paul’s letters, and other New Testament writers, the notion of “boldness” is held forth as a Christian virtue. We are to be bold when we approach the throne of grace, etc. However, in this case it is different.

Boldness too often is understood as brashness, crassness, manipulation, coercion, etc. Christian leadership understands the human heart. It is sensitive, sinful, broken, wounded, and hurting. No human heart is exempt. Only the blood of Jesus can heal the human heart, but that healing is often incarnational through the human touch of Christian leaders.

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