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Beings of Light: A Poem
I’m going to cheat a bit. Today is national poetry day, so I am sharing a poem I recently wrote for my WIP. The poem is based on John 12:25-36. Beings of Light Darkness is real. That much everyone agrees is true.People cn’t seeBlind to realityYoung and old stumble and fallInto the void we callBloodied…
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Down To Business — Picking Oscar Winners 2023
I’ve already given you two blogs worthy of the New York Times Entertainment Section (click here and click here), so let us get down to predictions for the major categories. Actor –As much as I’d love to see Bill Nighy win, it is a two person race between Austin Butler and Brendan Fraser, and I…
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Themes, and The Movies You Should Watch
Art imitates life, and this year’s Oscar movies demonstrate the truth of that in two important ways. But even with that, there are some gems. But first, let’s talk about themes. That is one of my favorite things to look at. The first theme connecting these films is an anti-military bent. This is not just…
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Top Gun Avatar Western Women Fabelmans Tar Everywhere Elvis Banshees Triangle
The batch of movies offered to us this year by Oscar is an unusually poor group. Some of these movies are really good, but there is not a stand out movie like CODA last year or Spotlight a few years ago which stands up and shouts ‘I am the obvious winner here’. It is an…
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Ash Wednesday – 2023
Today is the first day of Lent. A primary activity of the Lenten season (not the only, but primary) is fasting. Christ-followers should fast. Jesus clearly expects it of us for he tells us, But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but…
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Did Not Have Balloon On My Weekend Bingo Card
Some random and unconnected thoughts on the balloon floating over Montana.
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Predictions for 2023
Elon Musk, cancer, and Taylor Swift all make appearances in my predictions for 2023. This is always one of my favorite blog posts of the year. But first, a few disclaimers: I am not a prophet or clairvoyant, I do not necessarily want any of these things to happen, and my ratio of getting things…
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Advent 2022: Christmas Eve, Galatians 3:23-4:7
It seems convoluted at the outset, but it is a beautiful aspect of the BCP that the assigned readings finish with the stretch from 3:23 and ends with 4:7. Magnificent! Today is Christmas Eve, you should go to church tonight. Sing the songs. Hear the lessons. Pray your prayers. Light the candles. Eat the bread…
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Advent 2022: Week Four, Friday, Galatians 3:15-22
Today is Christmas Adam — because it comes before Christmas Eve. Our reading focuses another character from the book of Genesis, though. 15. Brothers and sisters, let me speak to it in an everyday human way; it’s all very similar to a will that’s already probated, and no one can annul any of it or…
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Advent 2022: Week Four, Thursday, Galatians 3:1-14
The reading guide likes us to finish in Galatians 3 for the last three days leading up to Christmas. So here we are with Paul ripping into the Galatians. 1. Stupid Galatians! Who tricked you? It was before your very eyes Messiah Jesus has been publicly crucified. 2. There is only one thing I want…
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Advent 2022: Week Four, Wednesday, Titus 3:1-15
The scheduled reading I have followed for Advent inexplicably stops this reading at Titus 3:8 and skips 9-15. I am sure there is a well meaning, thoroughly explained reason for this such as they will come to it later in the cycle, but for now I thought it best to go ahead and translate the…
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Advent 2022: Week Four, Tuesday, Titus 2:1-10
I want to point out again the rough nature of this rendering. I have not smoothed it out because I think the way it clunks together is part of the message. 1. But you keep speaking what is proper, that is, healthy teaching – 2. the older man to be sober, honorable, temperate, healthy in…
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Advent 2022: Week Four, Monday, Titus 1:1-6
Precisely because the Advent season is a little longer than normal, we find ourselves moving from Revelation to a pastoral epistle: Titus. 1. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Messiah Jesus by faith, chosen of God by a knowledge of truth in godliness 2. upon the hope of eternal life which the…
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Advent 2022: Week Three, Saturday, Revelation 6:1-17
Six of the seven seals, the four horsemen, and nowhere to hide. Hard times for humanity. 1. Then I saw the lamb open one of the seven seals. I heard one of the four creatures say, like a voice of thunder, ‘Come!’ 2. Behold, I saw a white horse. The one sitting upon it had…
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Advent 2022: Week Three, Friday, Revelation 5:6-14
Today’s reading is filled with liturgical refrains that soar from our hearts, through our mouth, and into the very throne room of God. 6. A lamb that had been slaughtered stood in the midst of the throne, the creatures, and the elders. It had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the [seven] spirits of…
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Advent 2022: Week Three, Thursday, Revelation 4:9-5:5
The verbs in this section are not smooth when it comes to tense. Some of them are future but with a present feeling. Some are present but nestled within other verbs that are past. I translated them that way, and didn’t smooth it out. You will see them. I think there is a reason for…
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Advent 2022: Week Three, Wednesday, Revelation 4:1-8
Today we see the throne of God through John’s vision. I advise reading it slowly. 1. After these, I looked and behold, a door had been opened in heaven. At first, I heard a sound like a trumpet speaking, then it said to me, ‘Come up here. I will show you what needs to happen…
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Advent 2022: Week Three, Tuesday, Revelation 3:14-22
Today’s reading is the last of the seven letters to seven different churches from Jesus. They are all memorable, but the Laodicean church has a firm grip on the psyche of the American church. There are probably a lot of reasons for this. 14. To the angel of the church in Laodicea write these things:…
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Advent 2022: Week Three, Monday, Revelation 3:7-13
Usually week three is the last full week of readings, but since Christmas falls on a Sunday this year, we are only half-way through, which means we have twice as much fun left. We begin the week with Jesus’ letter to the church at Philadelphia. 7. To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write…
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Advent 2022: Week Two, Saturday, Revelation 3:1-6
Sardis is like a place where forty years ago everything was awesome, but now it is just a washed up has been, nevertheless tourists still come by because of the reputation. You know, kind of like DisneyWorld. 1. To the angel of the church of Sardis write these things: The one who has the seven…
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Advent 2022: Week Two, Friday, Revelation 2:18-29
Today’s reading is the letter to Thyatira. Thyatira is one of those words that I enjoy pronouncing — it is so much fun to say it. Take a moment or two and just say it out loud over and over — Thyatira. Isn’t that fun. Too bad the words Jesus has for them aren’t really…
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Advent 2022: Week Two, Thursday, Revelation 2:8-17
We have two of the Lord’s letters in today’s reading — Smyrna and Pergamum. 8. To the angel of the church in Smyrna write these things: The first and the last, the one who was dead and lived, says, 9. ‘I know your distress and poverty, but you are rich. I also know the blasphemy…
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Advent 2022: Week Two, Wednesday, Revelation 1:17-2:7
The reading for today takes us from the end of John’s introduction to Jesus in Revelation into the first of the seven letters. 17. When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He put his right hand on me and said, “Do not fear. I myself am the first and…
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Advent 2022: Week Two, Tuesday, Revelation 1:9-16
Jesus appears to John in the midst of heavily symbolic imagery. 9. I, John, your brother, sharer in the kingdom, and by the patience of Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus. 10. I was in Spirit on the Lord’s day when I heard…
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Advent 2022: Week Two, Monday, Revelation 1:1-8
Jesus is coming, and John wants you to know it. 1. God gave the revelation of Messiah Jesus to his servant John to show his servants what must happen soon. He sent it by his angels. 2. This is what he testified — what he saw — the word of God and the testimony of…
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Advent 2022: Week One, Saturday, Jude 17-25
The first week of my translations for Advent 2022 finish with this beautiful doxology from Jude. 17. But you, dear ones, must remember the words already spoken by the apostles of our Lord Messiah Jesus. 18. For they kept saying to you that in the last times there will be scoffers led away by their…
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Advent 2022: Friday, Jude 1-16
If you thought Peter was brutal, wait until you read Jude. Note, the Greek rendering is Judas, but historically he is known as Jude. I suppose that is to keep him from getting mixed up with that other guy, the one we don’t talk about. 1. Jude [Judas], a slave of Messiah Jesus, brother of…
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Advent 2022: Week One, Thursday, 2 Peter 3:11-18
11. Since everything is to be dissolved, what kind of person should you be? Here’s how – a holy lifestyle, with godliness, 12. expectantly waiting for and hastening the coming Day of God. At which time the heavens will be set on fire and the fundamental elements of creation will melt away and dissolve into…
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Advent 2022: Week One, Wednesday, 2 Peter 3:1-10
The Episcopalians skip over chapter 2 of 2 Peter in their schedule of readings. I don’t know why*, because the context is rich with condemnation for false prophets, the kind of people he warned about at the end of chapter 1 who take the Holy Scripture and turn it into their personal interpretation. You should…
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Advent 2022: Week One, Tuesday, 2 Peter 1:12-21
Peter references his personal experiences with Jesus in reminding the community of the power of God’s prophetic promises. 12. I intend to always remind you about these things, although you already know it and have been confirmed in the truth presented to you. 13. But I consider, in so far as I am in this…
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Advent 2022: Week One, Monday, 2 Peter 1:1-11
I often translate sections of selected Advent readings. This year I chose the daily readings from the Book of Common Prayer Daily Office, year two. Be advised, this is not year two. If I were following strictly, I would be translating different texts. However, it was only about five years ago or so that I…
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Midterm Elections 2022 — Predictions!
I have no idea what mood the electorate is in this year. We will find out in about forty-eight hours. Disclaimer: Greenbean is a-political and has no favorites in these races. I am too pro-life to be a Democrat and too pro-immigration to be a Republican. My work as a pastor and spiritual leader is…
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Fried Chicken
Everyone has a fried chicken recipe. I guess, maybe, except vegetarians. But most everyone else has a fried chicken recipe. Sunday our church had our annual fall picnic (something we’ve not been able to do since 2019, so it was wonderful) and for the picnic I put together quite a bit of food. I made…
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Book Reviews — Grammar and Art
On our recent vacation (CLICK HERE TO READ ALL ABOUT IT) I spent many hours in airplanes. The flight to London was nine hours, the flight back was ten and a half hours, plus two hours to and from Reykjavik and London. That is a total of twenty-three and a half hours on planes. You…
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Greenbean Goes to England (And Scotland, and Iceland)
So many bucket list items were crossed off for me as we spent two and a half weeks in the UK and Iceland. Far too much for me to tell all, but I love to write about the travels we take (Greece, Paris, Road Trip just to point to a few). Instead of taking it…
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Patience/Fruit of the Spirit
What do you call people who are waiting outside a doctor’s office? Those people who are forced to ignore outdated magazines, look at bad artwork on the wall, and who look up like hungry people at a restaurant when the server comes by with a tray every time the door opens and someone steps out?…
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Peace/Fruit of the Spirit
There are nine fruit of the Spirit, and in my view, these nine are grouped into three groups of three. The first grouping is love, joy, and peace. They are not so much checklists or even ideas as much as they are states of mind. For thoughts on love, click here. For thoughts on joy,…
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Library Rendezvous Fondue
The Fondue Writer’s Club is at it again, this time with Independence Day themed stories. My favorite of these is when the writers take the theme and then zag as everyone else is zigging. That is what our hopeless romantic Paul Bennett does with today’s story, Independence Day, a delicious twist on the theme. Paul’s…
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Love/Fruit of the Spirit
It should be the easiest, but perhaps it is the hardest. That might be why Paul leads with it. The good news is that if we can get love right, the other eight probably fall into place. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control;…
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Review: The Chosen (Seasons 1 and 2)
Last night we finished season two of The Chosen, a television show about the apostles. Mrs. Greenbean got so enthralled that every evening she would say, ‘I can’t go to bed until I see Jesus,’ which, taken out of context is fascinating. What she meant was — I need an episode. All in all, this…
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Sunrise Fondue
There is a theme in our Memorial Day stories, I think, this year. It is the visitation of those who didn’t make it home. Joseph Courtemanche, finishes up our Fondue Writer’s Club free Memorial Day themed fiction with a reflective sunrise, and a picture that looks a lot like Steve McQueen. Know, dear reader, that…
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Backyard Fondue
Memorial Day is when we remember those who gave their lives defending our nation. In today’s Fondue Writer’s Club Memorial Day free fiction, Joe Shaw shows us a man who remembers those who paid the price, and keeps asking why he made it out. Oh, and there is also Led Zeppelin. So you’ll want to…
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1965 American Fondue
Kathy Kexel is coming for everything you love: your family, your country, your church, your good nights sleep. In typical Kexel style, it is wrapped in sweet nostalgia of a simpler time when phones had cords and people measured flour to cook breakfast every morning and teapots had money. Click on the nurse’s hat in…
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All We Are Saying, Is Give Peace Fondue A Chance?
What if? That is the origin of all great speculative fiction, and perhaps all great fiction in general. For our Fondue Writer’s Club Memorial Day story, Rob Cely asks us to engage in a very provocative ‘What if?’ I think you’ll enjoy it. Click on the ‘peace sign’ below to read ‘The Day of Peace’.…
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Patriotic Fondue
A poem for reflection as we approach Memorial Day
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The Secrets of Dumbledore: A Review
I feel like most of Dumbledore’s secrets were let out in the original Harry Potter books. I mean, he was a man of secrets, which is what made him interesting. He conspired with Snape to entrap Voldemort. That’s a big secret. He set up Harry as the sacrificial offering. That is a big secret. We…
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Children of the Fondue
It has been a while since Joseph Courtemanche has written a Fondue story, but he is back today with a little story that is, well, classic Courtemanche. I think you’ll like it, or at least get angry with it. You will not be indifferent, that is for sure. We finish up our Easter themed stories…
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Ye gods, Fondue
Rob Cely is the resident maker of myths and legends for the Fondue Writers. For his Easter story, he takes us back to one of the original stories in the Hebrew Bible and dresses it up a bit. You have to squint hard to see the stuff of resurrection and atonement, but it is in…
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Grace Fondue
When I started reading Kathy’s story this morning, my first thought was ‘this woman named Grace has none.’ But as the story wound through, I saw the beautiful sermon Kathy has written us, for all of us have felt, in one way or another, just like Grace does in this story, and all of us…
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Okinawa Fondue
Paul Bennett is the military historian in residence at the Fondue Writer’s Club. It is a prestigious honor that comes with a lifetime supply of synonyms for fight and shoot. For today’s Easter story, he has written us a snapshot from World War II on the Island of Okinawa. It is very heart tugging story…
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Fondue Easter Nightmare
The Fondue Writers Club is a nationwide movement of writers committed to providing you with quality entertainment, free of charge, just when you need it most. Okay, there are only about seven of us and the quality might be dubious, but for our sixes of readers, we deliver! It is my turn to go first…
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Oscar Predictions 2022
Thanks to the nearly extra month we had in watching films this year, I have seen almost all of the nominated films. Before I begin, I’ll say this years crop of movies is not as good as last year. I don’t know if it is the COVID-19 effect, the dumbing down of movies because of…
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Galatians Six: Let No One Give Me Any More Problems!
It has been a joy to translate Galatians over the last two months and to share it with all three of my dear readers. In this last chapter, we are visited again by the muckety-mucks, called to remember Paul’s illness (eyesight causes big letters), and the joy of a new creation. He also gets a…
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Galatians 5 — Works of the Flesh and the Fruit of the Spirit
Christ-followers often come back to Galatians 5 because of the beautiful simplicity of the Fruit of the Spirit in verses 22 and 23. I know I do. However, that is only a fraction of how much is going on in this chapter. Paul really goes after his opponents and tells them things like they’ve rendered…
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Galatians 4 — Where Did Your Happiness Go?
For me, as a translator and reader, the frustration level Paul feels with these people in the Galatian church(es) is mounting. He has worked himself up to a place where he just doesn’t know what to do with them. He seems to try one more thing — allegory. As always, the translation is first, taken…
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Galatians Chapter Three: ‘Stupid Galatians’
The third chapter of Galatians was incredibly enjoyable to translate. As one working with the text, the nuance of Paul’s writing in the last half of the chapter gave way to more creative freedom, at least that is what I felt, in finding the the right wording and tone. On a personal note, he starts…
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I Got Back — A Review of Peter Jackson’s Beatles Documentary
My observations watching the six plus hours of Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” documentary on the Beatles.
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Galatians Chapter One With Study Questions
This year I will preach from the book of Galatians about twenty-five times. As I prepared or this, I’ve been translating Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches from the Greek New Testament. I’ve completed two chapters, and will post about one a week. Included are some translators notes and at he end a few study…
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Comet Disaster Movie
We watched the Netflix movie “Don’t Look up” last night. It is less about comets ending the world as it is social and political commentary. The President, played by Meryl Street, is definitely a Trump-like political figure. The biggest commentary, though, is more social as the movie screams dissatisfaction with celebrity culture, social media addiction,…
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My Year of Jubilee
On 29 December 2021 I turn fifty. In the Bible, the fiftieth year is the celebration of Jubilee, the year after seven years of sevens, as outlined in Leviticus 25. There were four key components, as I understand it, of the Jubilee celebration. First, there is a forgiveness of debts. Second, slaves are set free.…
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Predictions for 2022
First, let all reasonable people agree 2021 didn’t happen; 2021 was only Part II of 2020. So, we are treating 2021 like Apple Treated the iPhone 9 or Microsoft treated Windows 9 — we’re just going to pretend it doesn’t exist. However, my predictions last year (Click here to read them) were not that off…
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Alien Amish Fondue
Kathy Kexel writes a sequel for today’s Fondue Writer’s Club Christmas story to her science fiction story about aliens fleeing the religious oppression of the Imperium and find a home on Earth amongst, of all people, the Amish of Wisconsin. To read the first installment of this series, which is Thanksgiving themed, CLICK HERE. Click…
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The Queasy Fondue
I am not certain what genre of story Derek Elkins has written for us. This installment of the Fondue Writer’s Club Christmas Stories 2022 may indeed be a genre unto itself, a sort of sui generis in which the key literary technique is mismatched simile. You’ll have to read it to understand. Click on the…
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Fondue Behind Bars
Sometimes, it is the thing that doesn’t happen. And that is all I will say about the sad predicament of Freddy Simpson. A man who, through no fault of his own, or at least that is how he would tell it, ended up in jail on Christmas Eve. What we will all find out soon,…
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Bitter Flavored Fondue
Be warned: When Rob Cely goes for the jugular he does so with turkey and gravy dripping from both hands. Today’s Fondue Writer’s Club Thanksgiving story is about a woman named Sheila, and Sheila, well, Sheila wants you to come to Thanksgiving dinner at her house and see and experience the perfect holiday. If you…
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Death Row and Clergy
This is upsetting to me. Here is the situation as I understand it. Clergy of all stripes have been allowed to visit death row inmates before their moment of doom. A man or woman dying has been granted this ability, to have a religious leader or figure with them in the moments when the state…
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We Could Be (or at least think about) Heroes
All Saints Day is not really a holiday Baptists embrace, but perhaps we should. No, I don’t mean veneration of the seemingly countless number of Patron Saints who litter some calendars but I mean the point of it all, which is to remember the heroes and seek to emulate their lives, or at least the…
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Gypsy Fondue
As I read Kathy Kexel’s excellent Halloween story, I couldn’t tell if it was autobiographical or if she made the whole thing up. Either way, it is an excellent story about the twists of life and also reminds us that Reformation Day is more important than Halloween. Can I get an Amen! The Fondue Writers…
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Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Fondue
Today we start the next installments of the Fondue Writer’s Club. Me and my penmonkey friends have collaborated again to provide you with free entertainment. You read that right — FREE! We started doing this when the Pandemic hit last year, thinking people would need something to help them get by. Turns out, our stories…
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My Big Fat Greek Vacation
I went to Greece. Here is my report.
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Book Review: Howdy Pilgrim, a Review of Jesus and John Wayne
Okay, I couldn’t resist putting a John Wayneism in the title for my review of “Jesus and John Wayne”. Please forgive me. The book is 309 pages of text plus a lot more pages of notes, paperback, written by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. She has done good historical work, documented her sources, and covered the…
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A Prayer For The First Day of School 2021
Dear Lord, the buses are running and the backpacks are filled, lunches are made and pencils are sharpened. In many ways it feels normal, and so I make the normal prayers. I pray for children to learn, about words, worlds, bugs, and books but also learn about themselves and to grow as people. May kindergarteners…
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Pastoral Ministries And COVID-19
Consider this ‘notes from the field’.
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Baptism: Three Possible Futures
In which Greenbean looks into his crystal ball and sees abominations
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Best Picture 2021 — A Great Batch of Movies
Movies have been weird this year. I haven’t seen a single nominee on the big screen because . . . COVID-19. Instead, I’ve watched them at home, which has been cheaper, easier, and more convenient. However, it doesn’t quite feel the same. Nevertheless, in typical Greenbean fashion, let me present to you my summation and…