Friday is for Heart Songs Reading with the Pastor Luke 21 and Psalm 103 (Click on the sound file to the right of this post just above the search box.) Today’s reading is 38 verses in Luke but it is the first four verses that have captured me. See if they don’t do the same for … More The Widow’s Large Gift
Reading with the Pastor Luke 6 and Psalm 81 a brief offering for “The Poetry Project”* Read Psalm 81 Sing for joy to God our strength; …… Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob. (vs. 1) . . . Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. (vs. 10b) Our Souls Leak Not only … More Our Souls Leak
Reading with the Pastor Mark 16 and Psalm 51 Psalm 51 is one of the clearest and best examples of a “penitential psalm” in all of literature. David cries out to God in repentance asking for forgiveness for his grievous sins of lust, arrogance, pride, adultery, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder. He knows he has … More When You are Quilty of Everything and You Know It
Read Psalm 14 (esp. 1-3) Another offering from THE POETRY PROJECT There is a raw quality to some of the psalms of David, a brutal non-political, non-politically correct confidence in the total dependability of God that progressive thought despises and David and other biblical writers could not care less about. Psalm 14 is one of … More There is No God.
The Poetry Project In December of 2009 or thereabouts, my son, Marty Schoenleber III, (aka, Marty S. Dalton) put a video up on Youtube.com. It inspired me to keep working on a project I thought of a couple of years ago. The idea is to write a poem of personal reflection for each Psalm in the psalter. … More When Waiting On God is the Purpose
Sunday Musings Periodically, hearts need to be raked over coals to become malleable and soft again. The metaphor doesn’t work except it does. Fire doesn’t make flesh soft, it makes it crisp. It sears it. Meat shrinks and contracts when surrounded by the heat of a coal fire. But when the “hot coal” … More Darkness Created Light
What does it Take to Thrive Under Pressure? Part of the Poetry Project Suggested by a Reading of Psalm 12 Read Psalm 12 “There is no strength left in the world of men.” —Elrond, in The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkein Resilience is the ability to thrive under pressure. I have seen some … More Resilience: The Ability to Thrive under Pressure
Monday is for Discussion Fascinated to read this first paragraph from a news report with this provocative headline today: NASA Scientists Brings Scientists & Theologians Together to Prepare World for Extraterrestrial Contact “A couple of months ago top US astronomers gathered in front of congress to let them know that extraterrestrial life exists without question. Their … More Extraterrestrial Life and Christianity
The Poetry Project Continues Poems for Psalms (Part of the “Poetry Project”) Suggested by Psalm 127 In December of 2009 or thereabouts, my son, Marty Schoenleber III (aka Marty S. Dalton), put a video up on Youtube.com. It inspired me to keep working on a project I thought of a couple of years ago. The idea is to … More Delighting in Undeserved Gifts
Original Musical Composition by Aubre Schoenleber to Accompany Poetry Project Read Psalm 16 Suggested by a Reading of Psalm 16 Part of the Poetry Project A Miktam. Nobody knows what Miktam means. It only occurs in six places (Psalm 16, 56-60). One interesting note is that each of the psalms it appears in breathe an atmosphere of lamentation … More To Mourn Well: Why We Lament When We Are Not Lame
