Tim Thompson 🇨🇦

Here's a little reflection for Ash Wednesday and Lent! --- “What’s the difference between a flute and a stick in the mud?” our priest asked on Sunday. He then went on, “The stick in the mud is full of itself. The flute has been emptied of itself so it can make music.” That’s a good image for Ash Wednesday. Christians around the world celebrate “Ash Wednesday” which kicks off the 40 days before Easter (what we call “Lent”). Traditionally Lent is a season of fasting (giving up food or luxuries or vices) and repentance (which means “to re-think” things), and we put ashes on our heads made from palm branches from the previous Easter season as a sign of our mortality (i.e. “from dust we came and to dust we shall return”). So before the fasting there was feasting. Ages ago, folks would spend Tuesday eating up all the grub (and drinks) that would go bad during the season of fasting, especially in the days before refrigeration. But the question surfaces, what relevance does any of that have for us? Our priest did an incredible job reminding us that in a world where many of us are “full of ourselves” we need to be emptied of ourselves – so that our lives can make better music. All the major world religions have an element of self-denial at their core. Jews have Yom Kippur. Muslims have Ramadan. Christians have Lent. In a world filled with clutter, noise, and hustle, Lent is a good excuse to step back and rethink how we think and live. In a world of instant gratification, it’s a chance to practice delayed gratification – to fast -- so that we can truly appreciate the blessings we have. In a world where virtual friends are replacing real ones, it is an invitation to turn off TV and computer screens so we can spend time with real people again. It’s an opportunity to give up something that is sucking the life out of us so that we can be filled with God, with life, with love again. So consider taking the invitation this Lent to “repent” – to rethink how we think and live. One friend told me his Lenten commitment was not to spend a single dollar these 40 days. Another woman said she was giving up gasoline, only driving one day a week. Others of us may take up smaller commitments – giving up sweets, alcohol, or meat. One of my friends who talks a lot decided to spend time in disciplined silence. Another friend of mine, who is a hermit, committed to get out a little more and be social. So there isn’t an anecdote, but there is an invitation -- an excuse – to try something new. Some folks may choose to not only give up something, but to take on something new – to exercise, read, learn a new craft, or pray. So whether it is giving up an old bad habit or taking on a new holy habit… May we each use this Lenten season as an excuse to do something that empties us of ourselves so that our lives make better music.

Thankful that the United Methodist Church publicly supports Bishop Budde and her sermon.

You know someone has only ever read a handful of out-of-context scriptures when they condemn Bishop Budde for confronting a governing official, as if “getting political” in that way is transparently inappropriate. If they actually read this Bible they claim is divinely inspired,+

NEW: I spoke with Bishop Budde about her sermon to Trump, which has triggered both blowback and praise. I also spoke w/Franklin Graham, the Episcopal Church, several Episcopal members of Congress, and a lawmaker's bishop. You'll want to read to the end. religionnews.com/2025/01/22/aft…

“What is this "all" that God will be "in all"? It means that God will be "all" even in every individual creature. And God will be "all' in these creatures in the sense that whatever the rational intellect, freed from any dirtiness of sin and purified from any taint of evil, will be able to perceive, grasp and think, all this will be God… After removing every sense of evil, only He who is the sole good God will become all for the creature returned to a state of soundness and purity [...] and not only in few or in many, but in all God will be all, when at last there will be no more death, nor death's sting, nor evil, most definitely: then God will truly be "all in all." - Origen, Princ. 3,6,2-3

"I am no longer a Christian. I am what I was when Jesus first saved me and I am what I have striven to be every step of my life since then. I am a follower of Jesus." "Christian No More," by Bill Mefford is on our blog now: redletterchristians.org/2025/01/14/chr…

“No other than the God exactly like Christ can be the true God. It is a doctrine of devils that Jesus died to save us from our father. There is no safety, no good, no gladness, no purity, but with the Father, his father and our father, his God and our God." ~ George MacDonald

What a fantastic way to describe this. It should simply be an ad. (For people who care about our environment, the truth and have two brain cells to rub together).

In 2016, 81% of white evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump. This past week, 81% of white evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump. Again. Our friend wrote “@DanielDeitrich Hymn for the 81%” several years ago and it remains as relevant today as the day he wrote it. It feels like hard work sometimes to love a church that feels so distant from our Savior, Jesus Christ: You said to love the lost So I’m loving you now You said to speak the truth So I’m calling you out Why don’t you live the words That you put in my mouth May love overcome and justice roll down From Dan: “This song is a lament. It’s a loving rebuke. It’s a plea for the 81%, to come home to the way of Jesus.” May love overcome and justice roll down.

“The only thing that matters” in “Sunday Musings” by @dianabutlerbass open.substack.com/pub/dianabutle…

I know Trump's rally at MSG got lots of press attn for its fascistic undertones, but the most fascistic thing to happen this week in Trump world -- in my view -- is this prophecy spoken over Trump by Messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn at a relig ldrs event. 1/ youtube.com/watch?v=6E7P8h…

If you’re also frustrated about how the media rarely covers Democrats’ religious identities, please share this clip of @KamalaHarris—who is Baptist—speaking at a Baptist church about the Gospel of Luke 10:25-37.

Vivaldi's “The Four Seasons” performed by the children of the Goede Hoop Marimba Band, South Africa.

Today, we joined Manitobans in commemorating Orange Shirt Day. This day is an opportunity to honour residential school survivors. We reflect on the children taken, the parents left behind and the children who never came home. This year marks the first time Orange Shirt Day will be a provincial statutory holiday in Manitoba. Our government holds sacred the chance to give working Manitobans a paid day off. It’s our hope you spend this day with your family, enjoying each other’s company – a thing that was denied for so many Indigenous families. My dad, like thousands of Indigenous children, was taken from his parents as a child. His story, and the story of so many residential school survivors, is why we wear orange shirts and wave signs that reaffirm this fundamental truth – every child matters. Every person in our province matters. Every Manitoban deserves a good life. May Orange Shirt Day bring people from all walks of life together around what must always come first – family.

An excerpt from “What Christians Believe About the Devil” by Joel Simpson is on our blog now. redletterchristians.org/2024/09/30/exc…

100%