This afternoon I was re-reading Leviticus 19, the chapter that contains the commandment at the crux of the Parable of the Good Samaritan: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  However, after back-pedaling into Leviticus 17, I got wrapped up in the proper slaughtering of animals.  After consulting Jacob Milgrom’s Leviticus commentary on the matter, I learned some things that I either hadn’t heard before or hadn’t remembered. Milgrom believes that the Israelite dietary laws were not about esoteric religious observance, or ancient health codes, but about ethics and values.  Specifically, after presenting the first humans as vegetarian (Genesis 1:29), the Hebrew Scriptures concede, through the Divine covenant with Noah after the flood, that humans will kill and eat animals (Genesis 9:2-4).  OK, I knew that.  But then Milgrom writes that “the Bible’s method of taming the killer instinct in humans is none other than its system of dietary

One of the bright spots in what’s deemed ‘news’ these days is the Juno probe.  NASA  launched it back in August of 2011 and it is just now making its way to Jupiter.  Long trip.  It will spend the next 20 months orbiting Jupiter 37 times, collecting all kinds of data about the largest, and oldest, planet in our solar system.  One of the hopes of the mission is to provide clues into our own planet’s formation 4 billion years ago.  HERE is the Juno mission website that has some fun and educational videos fit for adults and kids. The first imaged sent back from Juno, just today, including three moons of Jupiter. Meanwhile, there’s all manner of struggle and strife happening on our pale blue dot.  We are trapped in cycles of violence and stalemate.  But we are also extending our consciousness outward, probing for answers.  What I love

  Last week I served as camp pastor at Camp Friedenswald in southern Michigan.  Eve and Lily attended as campers and Abbie and Ila and I got to enjoy the “Peaceful Woods” and join in the action.  It was a lot of work – ten sermons in one week – but also provided a beautiful change of scenery.  Friedenswald is filled with natural beauty and lovely people. Although the story didn’t come up during the week, one of the scriptures that came to mind multiple times was the story of Jacob’s ladder in Genesis 28.  In that story Jacob is on a journey away from home and comes to a place where he rests for the night, using a rock as a pillow.  As he sleeps he dreams of a ladder bridging the heavens and the earth, with angels (which can also be translated as “messengers”) ascending and descending between

Tomorrow folks from Central District Conference (CDC) congregations will be coming to Columbus as the Annual Meeting begins.  Here’s a story that has helped me better understand CDC: Joseph Stuckey was born in Berne, Switzerland in 1826 and migrated to the US with his parents when he was five.  Joseph was baptized into the Amish Church and lived his adult life in central Illinois.  He took up farming, became a part time minister, and taught himself English by reading an English language newspaper.  He and other farmers benefited from high grain prices during the Civil War, and Joseph decided to retire from farming at age 42 in order to become a full time minister.  He came to be in high demand as a preacher and church leader, traveling widely throughout the Midwest.  Over his lifetime he married over 250 couples and officiated over 1000 baptisms. 1872 was a defining year

  Tomorrow folks from Central District Conference congregations will be coming to Columbus as the Annual Meeting begins.  Here’s a story that has helped me better understand CDC: Joseph Stuckey was born in Berne, Switzerland in 1826 and migrated to the US with his parents when he was five.  Joseph was baptized into the Amish Church and lived his adult life in central Illinois.  He took up farming, became a part time minister, and taught himself English by reading an English language newspaper.  He and other farmers benefited from high grain prices during the Civil War, and Joseph decided to retire from farming at age 42 in order to become a full time minister.  He came to be in high demand as a preacher and church leader, traveling widely throughout the Midwest.  Over his lifetime he married over 250 couples and officiated over 1000 baptisms. 1872 was a defining year