Some years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Holy Land with a large tour group. We spent two weeks traveling around Israel and Palestine but spent most of our time in and around Jerusalem. One of the most…
A geeky moment in the culture — and the church
I recently subscribed to Scientific American, the iconic popular science magazine. In other seasons of culture, the previous sentence may have read more confessional than I intend it, but as the latest installment of the “Star Wars” franchise has proven,…
Unremarkable, but lovely
Scott Dickison A rabbi, an imam and a Baptist minister walk into a university auditorium. No, this isn’t the start of a bad joke. It’s just what happened this past Thursday evening on the campus of Mercer University in Macon,…
Hoping for more Luke, less Matthew
By Scott Dickison In this column [https://baptistnews.com/opinion/columns/item/29670-a-matthew-kind-of-year] around this time last year, I noted the differences in the Christmas stories told by Matthew and Luke. Luke’s is the one remembered in specials on TV and Christmas cards. It’s full of…
Now thank we all our God
By Scott Dickison It was around the year 1636, in the town of Eilenburg, in present day Germany, during what is now known as the Thirty Years’ War — the longest and what many believe is still the most destructive…
Givenness
By Scott Dickison Marilynne Robinson, the gifted writer, novelist and Christian apologist, argues in her new collection of essays that for all our modern questioning and search for meaning we often fail to appreciate the “givenness of things.” I’m taken…
Next-Year People
By Scott Dickison I endured a bittersweet moment recently as I walked with my 2-year-old son through a critical rite of passage. We are, as Dickisons, devout (I use this term reverently and deliberately) fans of the Chicago Cubs. This…
Who’s blessing whom?
By Scott Dickison Norma is one of my favorite church members. I’m sure pastors are not supposed to have favorite parishioners just like parents aren’t supposed to have favorite children, but hear my confession. I could go on and on…
What’s necessary vs. extravagant giving
By Scott Dickison As far as the typical news cycle goes, this column is about a week late. August 29 marked the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall on American soil. But then again, on Labor Day of 2005…
Loving God with our minds
By Scott Dickison It would be difficult to grow up in our church and not learn the verse from Scripture that Christians around the world know simply as the “Greatest Commandment:” You shall love the Lord your God with all…
Which direction are you headed in?
By Scott Dickison My dear professor, the late Peter Gomes, used to say about preaching, If you don’t know where you are headed, any road is sure to take you there. I’ve come to believe this wisdom applies to more…
Learning to let grow
By Scott Dickison Last spring, my wife and I decided that tending to an infant was not enough responsibility for us, so we tried our hand at some backyard gardening. I built a raised bed plot in the backyard, trimmed…