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Your Name
Hopefully, you have a good relationship with your name. I often don’t know how to introduce myself, whether James or Jimmy. Very few people call me Jim and a good many call me Pipes. I don’t really know if who I introduce myself as ever actually sticks. Within a name is an association, and the…
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Hallow
Hallowed be your name. And now for a word we never use. We use the word holy a little more, but it is also a word that is infrequently used. For the angels the word holy is common fare. But we needed a verb in the prayer. We needed something to do. The prayer needed…
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In Heaven
Who is in the heavens? What we have here is a definite article (who is) followed by a preposition (in) followed by another definite article (the) Ho En Tois (who is in the) Ourenois (heavens) If you sound out how it looks, it’s almost poetry. We can shorten it to Our Father in Heaven. We…
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Father
The second word of the Lord’s prayer is Father. Oh what a word! It is wrought with human potential for beauty and love and tenderness and for some it is wrought with fear, neglect, absence. But ultimately the noun is most prone to our projection. I will dive in further in a moment, but I…
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I Have Not Forgotten
In some ways, it was fitting that I began this journey to Israel on Father’s Day. Today is 2 years to the day that my dad died. There are so many things I would have loved to show him. But what’s more, there are so many people I wish could have met him. I wish…
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Your Word Matters
Shalom from Jerusalem. I have not written in quite a bit and quite frankly it’s probably for the best. I actually have a lot of good news to share, and I’m actually surprised. I have begun to experience waves of goodness of God opening doors and healing my heart. I say this with fragility. Because…
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Why Sunflowers Don’t Face Each Other
I have at previous times been noted in my competitive spirit to vocalize my frustration when playing games or sports of any kind. I have been noted to do this in life in general. If you know me well, you probably have a memory that comes immediately to mind. Hopefully, a memory would come immediately…
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Pro Wrestling Goes to Church Fin.
This is the final portion of a reflection on pro-wrestling and church. One aspect of pro wrestling that is a natural outflow of the scope of the performance art itself is personal critique. There is so much to learn in pro wrestling, from ring psychology, to safely executing moves, to gauging fan reaction, to self-promotion,…
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Pro Wrestling Goes to Church Part III
This is part III of a reflection on Pro Wrestling and Church and perhaps will be the hardest to articulate. Part I covered Faith and Truth, Part II covered Execution/Liturgy and Etiquette. This part will deal more with behind the curtain circumstances than the performance although they certainly are correlated. It is more about the…
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Pro Wrestling Goes to Church Part II
This is Part II of a reflection on Pro-Wrestling and Church. Part I focussed on Faith and Truth. This part focuses on the practical aspects of community. Execution/Liturgy I went to an Ash Wednesday Service recently at a Catholic Church. I like Ash Wednesday and as I grow older the more I like traditions. I…
The Long Rebuild
The Reconstructed 