http://www.record-eagle.com en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:55:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_311065713.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_311065713.html For me, once I was able to open my mind to other ways of seeing and experiencing God, it seems I really began to know God. Once I realized that faith was something that you live, not something you define, it started to become my own. Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:25:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_240232615.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_240232615.html It's unfortunate that many headlines have referred to the recent decisions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as something "Lutherans" have decided. I do not agree with the resolution and neither does my congregation or my synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:09:00 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_219230754.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_219230754.html Lammas is rooted in ancient Celtic practices dating back considerably more than 2,000 years and is a time of thanking Divine Spirit and the Earth Mother for once again bringing forth life in many forms. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:30:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_184223048.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_184223048.html Advertising how spiritual we are seems to accomplish only one thing: alienating the very people we may be trying to reach. If we actually started to live like Jesus, rather than market him, perhaps we'd begin to see some of the positive changes we're looking for in the world. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:00:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_163220359.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_163220359.html When the news of the attack at the United States Holocaust Museum broke, I was taken back to when I received local threats from the same group to which the accused museum shooter, James vonBrunn, has ties. he old incident has faded, but this week we are again reminded that domestic terrorist groups and individuals still use violence against minorities in this country. Fri, 29 May 2009 23:00:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_149230212.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_149230212.html When I start a new day in general, do I have faith that the sun is going to rise, or do I reason based on prior experience that this will happen? What role does my belief in a creator and sustainer of the universe have to do with my faith or my reasoning that the sun will indeed rise? Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:00:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_100234736.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_100234736.html Both clergy and adherents will occasionally find themselves at odds with certain aspects of their own faith tradition due to causes that are, more often than not, beyond their control. Is the circumstance significant enough to destroy the faith-follower relationship? Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:09:00 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_086230946.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_086230946.html For too many people today, life itself is flat and bland and without the basic flavor living requires. You and I, whatever our religious identity, are the condiments of life. Our words, gestures, empathy, sharing and openness truly do give hope to people otherwise drowning in a sea of indifference and, often, unjust insecurity. Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:00:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_079214201.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_079214201.html One of the unfortunate tendencies of religion, from my own experience, is that we tend to surround ourselves only with people who think like we do. This limits our own ability to think, to learn, to ask questions, to grow. Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:00:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_052094712.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_052094712.html As part of a recurring series of columns by local religious leaders, Chip Roush, senior pastor at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Grand Traverse, writes on last week's beheading of a muslim woman, allegedly by her husband, in Orchard Park, N.Y.: "I grieve for Aasiya Hassan, and her children and family -- and for the entire Islamic community in the United States. This crime will exacerbate the mistrust and fear with which many view Muslims." Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:00:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_038095717.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_038095717.html Each of us is a story; an infinite series of stories contained in a book with a sometimes hard and sometimes soft cover. We are fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, reality and occasionally all of those at the same time. We are the characters, narrators, writers, scenery, readers and critics; and because we are wonderfully and mysteriously human our characters are happy, sad, wonderful, miserable, generous and stingy in ways that would make even Ebenezer Scrooge blush. Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:00:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_024092703.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_024092703.html Last week NPR reported that fewer young adults believe in God. I did not hear the entire program but began to think about what non-belief might mean -- and it might mean something positive! If some significant number of young adults are rejecting the notion of God as depicted in much of Biblical literature and as poorly taught in most religious education and formation classes ... good. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:00:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_010092744.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_010092744.html God and I walk in the early morning. I take the dog along. God talks. I listen. The dog sniffs and pretends she can still hunt. We go early because God is busy; my joints ache if I don't move soon after arising, and the dog has needs to address. Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:00:58 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_103094132.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_103094132.html We have choices to make every day and they involve the subjects and predicates of our lives. If we choose to see life as merely noun and verb, there is no room for poetry or story; boredom quickly sets in. Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:00:57 +0000 http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_068095033.html http://www.record-eagle.com/perspectives/local_story_068095033.html Dear Presidential front-runners: It is about words!