Pastor Foltz is Pastor Emeritus of Saint James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, PA and author of the the Frontline Study content.
Some think the vastness and seemingly indifference of the universe challenges Christian teachings about God’s concern for humanity and our infinitesimally tiny earth. They accuse us of imposing the meaning we want on the totally materialistic world. In fact, they often claim God’s Word is the voice of those in power. We’ve all heard tales […]
It’s helpful to remind ourselves that Nature can be defined from different perspectives (e.g. as universe, world, or creation). We can talk of the universe, my world, and God’s creation. Each use different language types. The scientific speaks of vast stars and galaxies, the poetic of a beautiful starry night, and the theological of the […]
Probably the greatest challenge to Christianity in our day is people’s absorption in their jobs, their play, and anything else that allows them to ignore meaningful conversation and profound thought. Close behind is the churches’ inadequacy in addressing troubling questions about the suffering of innocents and our relationship to nature. I’ll try to deal with […]
The biggest and most significant response to this series has been Christians who report they felt excluded every time a pastor described the Church as a “family of families.” On the other hand, I also heard from pastors, who like me, realized the limitations of the description but could not come up with anything better. […]
In the last lesson, I suggested conversing over fine food and drink might be the best way to promote friendship in our day. In this one, I’d like to support the thought by showing how important this is for Christianity. Meals played a major role in the Old Testament. There was Abraham and Sarah offering […]
So how can we promote the important elements of traditional friendship? We obviously cannot force people to enlarge their circle of friends by preaching at them. Robert Putnam, famous for his book Bowling Alone, felt the answer was to develop new forms of volunteer organizations that would pull people away from their televisions and out […]
The model for friendship is found in John 15: 12-17, right in the middle of Jesus’ words about love. He claims we are now friends, because he has shared all he knows with us. He then goes to say the epitome of love is someone who gives his life for his friend. Jesus recognizes sharing […]
If asked to define friendship, most people say something about sharing. Few would include anything about friendship being a way to knowledge. We think of friends working or playing together, but seldom sharing ideas in order to educate themselves. Yet, this idea is common in many ancient writings. Augustine in his 398 AD Confessions described […]
When I at first asked my face-to-face discussion groups to define friendship, I got the answers I expected. They seemed to say the same things as early Christian writers. For instance, they echoed what Ambrose wrote in 340 AD: “Friends open their hearts to each other, sharing their deepest thoughts, their hopes and fears, their […]
Whenever I spoke of the Church as a “family of families,” I heard from singles, couples without children, and same sex couples. They all said such language made them feel excluded. I understood what they meant, but could never come up with better imagery. After all, the Bible calls God “Father” and other Christians “brothers […]
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