Steve Byrnes

There are so many paradoxes that we can appreciate as we seek to grasp more of the meaning of the miracle of Christmas.

Generally, we call that path the lectionary. I’m a big fan of the lectionaries in general. They do several things.

Much of what we do as Christians is a remix. The word of God interacts with our lives as we live out the legacy and mission given by Christ.

God uses our stupid as well as our best thought out plans and efforts

My prayer life is, first and foremost, a pitiful and distracting thing and my experience of answers delayed has often felt like Cheech's experience on the bench in this skit with Chong playing the roll of prayer answerer.

St. Paul talks about faith that is weak and by his description of what it looks like, I lived there; I've been the weak brother. It appears that a firm faith is that faith that trusts in the goodness of God for you based on something outside of you – not on some special, superior knowledge, but having your name…

We will be watching fireworks and eating traditional combinations of food and drink today, along with many other Americans. While we celebrate this wonderful day when our founding fathers came together to stand against tyranny and oppression, we are thinking about the religious freedom we have in this county.

“Now, a certain man was sick...” Rick was kind. He knew my name before I knew his. The few times we talked, I felt like I should get to know this guy. I had actually planned to strike up a conversation the next time I saw him at church.

I’ve come to realize at the tender age of 47 that sometimes church doesn’t work.

What does Steve Jobs have to do with Theology? Very little. But that won’t stop me from trying to make a connection.

The wine of communion is a gift from God and the blood of Christ we receive at the rail an inebriant that encourages and frees us.

In Sunday morning Bible study, our class is reading 1st Peter. This week was chapter 3 and I’ve always had a challenge with the imagery there. I’m talking about the way Peter brings Noah into the picture and connects it to Christian suffering.

In the pageant of Easter Week, Maundy Thursday speaks about the last time Jesus ate with his Disciples and how He washed their feet in preparation for participating in the Passover meal (John 13).

The concept of Theology as science is foreign to our ‘enlightened’ century where the subject has been removed to the Liberal Arts category.