Author: modernstoriesoftheway

“It Has Begun” October 8, 2023 When the underbrush is dry, the humidity is low, and the fuel for the fire is plentiful, it only takes a small spark to ignite a great conflagration.  The Palestinians breaching the walls of Gaza after repeated missile volleys into Israel, while on the Sabbath Day, is just the [...]

Distressed Maui August 12, 2023 Maui fires live update:  Death toll hits 80 as officials warn it is likely to climb. Officials say the number of dead will likely increase as crews search the wreckage that wiped out the tourist town of Lahaina.  NBC news is on location covering the devastation. By NBC News What [...]

“Christian Nationalism” From time to time the Christian church is subjected to aberrations of theology and practice which in time prove themselves to be a heresy of the church, but often these heresies can last for a generation or more and trouble the people of God, leading them to waste an inordinate amount of time [...]

January 29, 2023 “Addressing Climate Change” I was listening today to a program on climate change.  It started with a comparison of the 1816 summer and the Indonesian volcano eruption of Mount Tambora, April 5, 1815. This one simple act of nature produced devastation and loss of life in Indonesia.  It also set in motion [...]

Reflections on the Year of our Lord 2022  Bill Wilson, M.D. The Year of our Lord 2022 in my mind and heart is a jumble of many concerns: In the United States of America, most significant is the recommendation for criminal prosecution of the former President Donald Trump on charges of insurrection for his orchestrating [...]

“The Tainted Witness of the Church” September 18, 2022 Since allying itself with the former president and presumably 2024 presidential candidate, the conservative evangelical church has compromised its witness and core Christian values, having allied itself in a Faustian compromise to achieve its own political ends.  Jesus reminds us of such a temptation to expediency, [...]

“By Their Fruit” August 21, 2022 Jesus has an interesting statement:  “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  You shall know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?  Even so, every good tree bringeth fruit, but a corrupt [...]

“Not to Be Served” August 4, 2022 In response to an argument among the disciples of Jesus as to who was the greatest among them, Jesus said these words:                 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  [...]

“The Saga of the Dead Chicken” Have you ever found a dead chicken in the road?  Even in the country, on rural South Carolina roads, rarely, if ever, does one encounter a dead chicken.  It is common to see dead dogs, dead feral hogs, dead possums, and dead skunks, but rarely a dead chicken. This [...]

When Did Clarence Thomas Become White? July 4, 2022 Watching the blizzard of bizarre Supreme Court rulings this past week, particularly the gutting of the ability of the EPA to address climate change and the upholding of the restriction to the Voting Rights in Arizona implies a movement backward, dreamed about by the Koch brothers, [...]