Todays Thought Archives - Calvary United Church of Christ

Todays Thought

What is Todays Thought?

Every Morning (M-F): Today’s Thought – a 3-minute read about spirituality and life, meant to be prayed about, commented on and shared with others.

Things are always more complicated than they seem

The first time I was in a real wrestling match was in the 7th grade. I wasn’t involved yet, but friends of mine were. I watched the wrestlers toss each other around (junior high wrestling can look pretty clumsy), and most of them won because their opponents fell down and they jumped on top of…

What is Evil?

Two things have happened in my orbit this week that have intertwined in my mind in a serendipitous way. The first is a book I have been reading by Richard Harwood (Stepping Forward) in which he recounts the work he did with the leaders and community members of Newtown, CT (victims of the Sandy Hook…

Community Christmas Tree Lighting

I travel around the West Reading traffic circle at least once or twice a day, and every year at this time, the signs go up advertising the community Xmas tree lighting. The local high school singers offer seasonal music, dignitaries show up and say a few words, and the ceremonial plug is inserted to light…

Fake Christmas

I grew up listening to the beautiful music Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote for the two-act “fairy ballet” The Nutcracker he created in 1892. It was based on a short story written in 1816 by E.T.A. Hoffman called “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” Growing up, I had no idea that it had anything to do…

Looking Outward or Inward

I have mentioned being involved with the Harwood Institute through the generosity of the United Way and Centro Hispano a number of times. This organization helps communities to look at their positives and negatives and find ways to capitalize on what they can do together to improve life for everyone. It is a grass-roots process…

What is Real?

Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, I have seen everything from celebration to angst to humor to hate in response. I send these thoughts out on Twitter, but beyond that, my familiarity with the platform is limited. When it first came out, I said that I thought it was the dumbest form of communication ever…

Jesus at the Gay Bar

This story in four paragraphs has been floating around for a while, but it seems especially poignant right now as we reel in the wake of the massacre at Club Q. As we listen to the same hypocrites who paved the way for this kind of terrorism with “don’t say gay” legislation and speeches opposing…

The “Holiday” Season

It starts at the end of August. School sales began in July and are now winding down. Soon it will be Halloween, which has become a season of its own. The candy goes on the shelves just before Labor Day and is replaced by Christmas candy a couple of days before October 31. I think…

Rights

The law to make same-sex marriage the law of the land cleared a major hurdle yesterday and will continue to move through the process to protect the right to marry that was given in 2015 by the Supreme Court. One of the big hurdles was a provision to make religious organizations do these marriages regardless…

Grace & Works

The question of salvation has been fraught with angst and anger and anxiety. It is one of the key ingredients that launched the Protest Reformation (or rebellion, if you are Catholic). It both inspires and troubles Christians, making us either worried about our eternal souls or satisfied with our decision to follow Jesus. It has…