Introduction One of our customs in Christ Church is to have a “state of the church“ message sometime around the first of the year. There are two slight changes this year. First, this year it is right at the first of the year, and the second difference is that this year we are going to …
A Back Eddy in the Moscow Everglades
Let me begin by inviting the uninterested to just skip this one, a post on one particular backwater eddy in the swamp that has become the Moscow Everglades. At the same time, some may be interested in this feature of our ongoing “rage for diversity” campaign because it is part of the reason that some …
Love and Loyalty
When you are in a conflict with a group of people over the course of several years, at some point you come to realize what kind of thing sets them off. Of course, as we have been dealing with the intoleristas in Moscow, it would be an excusable mistake for someone to argue that anything …
Lies and Liars
No one needs to teach us Pharisaism. Like all sins, it comes naturally enough if we do not guard against it. But you are Christians, you are a new creation in Christ, and one of the glorious characteristics of this new creation is the desire to guard against all such sins. One of the most …
Their Little Charade Parade
If the intolerista case against Trinity Fest (and other of our doings in Moscow) were a used sofa, there would be about seven springs poking up out of it. A number of them are in a dither because they have culled from some of my posted comments references to “battle” and whatnot, revealing thereby that …
Something Wrong With His Typewriter
This morning I received a copy of an anonymous attack on various members of our churches, posted on the ever-reliable Venom 20/20. For those who know nothing of it, you have not really missed out. For those who are aware of this particular spray of bitterness, let this answer suffice. One of the temptations that …
Climate Control
Apologetics in the Void” are repostings from an on-going electronic discussion and debate I had some time ago with members of our local community, whose names I have changed. The list serve is called Vision 20/20, and hence the name “visionaries.” Reading just these posts probably feels like listening to one half of a phone …
Avoiding Checkmate
Visionaries, Darryl wrote to ask about my responsibility in helping to give Moscow a black eye in the PR department. What was my intent in all of this? First, Darryl is exactly right in anticipating how I would respond. We did not print and distribute the anonymous flyers, we did not ask for a front …
A Resurgent Temperance Union
As you may have gathered, I am having a hard time getting over the attempt on the part of the Intoleristas to ban our children from participation in the Lord’s Supper. I laughed when I first heard it, and it has been one of my happy thoughts ever since. I don’t know what is going …
Brief Notes on Anonymity
A few days ago, I posted a response to an anonymous letter that was circulating, in which letter I was accused of Sordid Stuff. In the days since, I have had interaction with three Christian men who were not clear in their minds on why such letters should be immediately walked over to the shredder. …