bobrhodes.org

Category: Thoughts on the Church

  • Sodom & Gomorrah

    I recently finished a paper on the biblical story of Sodom & Gomorrah.  I wanted to post it here because it’s been used recently and often as a way to marginalize the gay population, and I think it’s a bastardization of the text (at best!) and a completely inappropriate use of God’s word.  I offer it…

  • Santa Clarita UMC Video

    A friend asked that I post a video from preaching at Santa Clarita UMC on Sunday the 28th of December (that’s 2008 folks).  So here’s the video.  It’s long, so plan on spending around 25 minutes here.  The first part of the video is my arrangement of “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” followed by…

  • Watch This Twice

    I was looking online at contemporary Christian music and I ran across this skit that was performed to a song that I know and like called “Never Alone” (by BarlowGirl).  I have to admit that this skit seemed dark and ill-conceived at first.  I’m really glad I chose to watch the whole thing! This skit is about…

  • And So It Begins

    I’ve been working long and hard toward the possibility of becoming an Ordained Pastor, and now I’m at a pretty big step.  I’m from the United Methodist tradition, so there’s a long history on what has turned out to be a long and not-without-its-rewards process.  AND, did I mention that it’s a LONG process?! Those…

  • The End of Science v. Religion? Not…

    I just got home after attending the Clayton v. Dennett debate over at CGU.  I’m still processing, and will likely want to watch the debate again.  If you missed it or need to watch it again, the place to do so is here: Here are a few thoughts I’d wish to share, and then I’d…

  • Sex: Sympathizing with the Damned

    The more I think about it, the more I think sex divides us more than it brings us together.  How’s that for counter-intuitive?! And yet it seems to be all we can talk about.  Or more accurately, it’s all we can think about as long as we don’t talk about it except that we can…

  • A Methodist & an Atheist Walk Into a Bar…

    I’ve had some ongoing dialogue with an atheist (I’ve also heard the phrase non-theist) friend of mine.  Yesterday he posted on my Facebook page a Daily Beast article quoting Orange County Pastor Wiley Drake who appears to be calling for the deaths of Congress members – and perhaps others – who support health care reform…

  • Politics in the Pulpit

    Politics in the Pulpit

    So yesterday I preached on Acts 11:1-18 (Peter’s vision that prompted him to preach to the Gentiles) and John 13:31-35 (Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment: to love one another). In it, I applied the idea of “love in action” to the new immigration law in Arizona. I have to admit that I was…

  • Wesley’s Quadrilateral & Arizona’s Immigration Law

    Wesley’s Quadrilateral is applied to the recently signed immigration law in Arizona…

  • Profound Disappointment

    In this process toward ordained ministry, I underwent a psychological assessment that determined that I top out the introvert/extrovert scale.  And guess which end I was on? <insert my best imitation of a smile here> So it may make sense that I begin to process this profound disappointment in an outward way.  To be honest,…