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Now browsing: Hometown News > Religion > Scott Elliott
Scott Elliott
This Week | Archive
May 17, 2013
Parables of Jesus lead to the extraordinary - Jesus was a storyteller, whose repertoire included the very effective use of parables, stories about the ordinary, which draw extraordinary illustrations meant to evoke contemplation and transformation. Through parables, Jesus paints visual pictures of how God connects with us in the ordinary, how heaven's way could play out in earthly situations... Full Story
April 19, 2013
All is in God, this Earth Day, let's work on remembering that - My theology includes a belief that God calls all of creation, not just humans, to the best that it can be. Moreover, I believe that all is in God - as the Apostle Paul indicated, God is what we live and move and have our being in. This matches up with a number of other Bible verses. Genesis tells us that all of creation is made of the very words ... Full Story
March 22, 2013
The cosmic implications of Easter - Easter is nearly here. For many, it's the season of pastel colors, egg hunts, baskets of goodies and jellybeans - all fun stuff. But the greatest joy is knowing that, on the very first Easter morning, a non-violent love-mongering peacenick, named Jesus, was vindicated by God. Jesus' way - God's way - of peace and love could not be extinguished by... Full Story
March 15, 2013
The cosmic implications of Easter - Easter is nearly here. For many, it's the season of pastel colors, egg hunts, baskets of goodies and jellybeans - all fun stuff. But the greatest joy is knowing that, on the very first Easter morning, a non-violent love-mongering peacenick, named Jesus, was vindicated by God. Jesus' way - God's way - of peace and love could not be extinguished by... Full Story
February 22, 2013
No one is excluded in a gay-friendly church - My church, as many of you know, is what's known in church circles as "gay-friendly;" that is, we consider homosexuality - like heterosexuality - to be a part of God's very own creation and therefore good (as God has decreed all creation). You may not be aware of it, but there actually are a lot of gay-friendly churches and gay-friendly Christians... Full Story
January 18, 2013
Jesus: a rebel and resister? - Jesus has a whole different Way that he created and led than the way many today claim or think he created and led. Jesus' way was not about judgment, or exclusion, elitism or hate. Jesus' way was (and is!) about non-judgment, inclusivity, egalitarianism and love. Jesus of the Gospels wasn't about judging and excluding, he wasn't about working to ... Full Story
December 14, 2012
Christmas is proof, the promise is true - I love the Christmas season. I see it as a living hologram crystal ball of the potential for humankind. It's not in clear focus, to paraphrase Paul, we look through a glass dimly. The oily film of things like greed and commercialism obstruct the view, but by God you can see it, you can feel it, you can sense it and you can even breathe it. Love f... Full Story
November 16, 2012
Breathe in God’s Spirit, exhale God’s love - Sadly, it’s common in modern America to think Christianity is primarily about personal salvation and prosperity, as if "The Way" Jesus taught is to just breathe God in to primarily better the believer. There are many who seem to pitch this popular notion that Jesus’ way is about just breathing in God and basking in the delight and the gl... Full Story
October 19, 2012
Bible humor: Laughter is the best medicine - One of my favorite authors, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, once claimed that "religion without humor is blasphemy." What I think he meant was that humor is a good and Godly gift, and to deny it is to deny a part of God's creation. I love humor. I look for it and embrace it in many places. One place I have found laced with humor is the Bible. Indeed it h... Full Story
September 21, 2012
What we do, who we are, matters much over and over again - There is a popular cultural understanding, based on an ancient theological concept, that our soul returns to life after death, that we are reincarnated. Generally, Westerners have this notion that reincarnation means our present self is contained in one soul, and that if reincarnation exists it means we just keep coming back in human form. But wh... Full Story
August 17, 2012
Learning peace - I am on sabbatical right now, with a stack of books, studying peace with a peace educator. When I tell people I am studying peace on my sabbatical, I get a strange look and am asked why or how one studies peace? That's actually a good question, and one that makes me a little sad. In our culture, studying martial arts and war and all manner of typ... Full Story
July 13, 2012
The Gospel according to 'Romeo and Juliet' - I mentioned a few columns ago that I am working on a summer production of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." The deadline for this column arrives before we open on July 13, but already much work has been done, youth and adults teaming together to understand and give life to the 400-year-old words of a genius, William Shakespeare. It's a remarkabl... Full Story
June 22, 2012
Three in one: a model for understanding God's roles - This year on the first Sunday in June many Christians around the world commemorated "Trinity Sunday," a day we celebrate our experience of the Triune nature of God. The trinity doctrine can be perplexing (how can three be one?), so I tend to take time each Trinity Sunday to let people know that the trinity is an ancient concept originally intende... Full Story
June 1, 2012
Could church be a radical rainbow melting pot? - Jesus spent his life knocking down any and all barriers in order to bring into his community all manner of people as equals to be loved. And Jesus did this to save each person and all the world from their lesser way of being. This teaching and practice of Jesus was followed by the early church. We can see this in New Testament writings. For examp... Full Story
May 18, 2012
Could church be a radical rainbow melting pot? - Jesus spent his life knocking down any and all barriers in order to bring into his community all manner of people as equals to be loved. And Jesus did this to save each person and all the world from their lesser way of being. This teaching and practice of Jesus was followed by the early church. We can see this in New Testament writings. For examp... Full Story
April 20, 2012
Blessing , transforming young lives - In a few weeks - on May 5 at precisely 11 a.m. - with a room full of anxious teens and parents, I will begin auditions for our summer Shakespeare camp youth production of "Romeo and Juliet." Directing and "playing" with adults and youth on stage is one of the great joys of my ministry. While some people find it a bit odd that a minister is involv... Full Story
March 23, 2012
We are diamonds in the making - The fasting and other Lenten rituals Christians practice take seriously the coming of Easter and what it represents. We are reminding ourselves to not only prepare for that momentous day on the Christian calendar, but also to try to make a serious effort at transformation, turning away from things in the past that have kept us from being our best... Full Story
February 17, 2012
The instructions to properly run a nation are on our bookshelves - The Bible is often about two choices; the elite earthly power's way of doing things, like Rome's violent way to peace and justice for a few; or God's heavenly way of doing things, like Jesus' non-violent way to peace and justice for all. The powerful, like those in ancient Rome and modern Washington D.C. , by and large choose what is best for the... Full Story
January 27, 2012
King of Peace - It is hard to believe that less than half a century ago, in America, whites were by law entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to the detriment of African Americans rights to the same thing. It's painful to remember, it is so awful. Whites were at liberty to shop and eat and drink and swim and study where they wanted, blacks were ... Full Story
December 23, 2011
Christmas remembers a choice for peace for all - I am a sucker for Christmas, I always have been and always will be. I don't mind when Christmas things start showing up in displays at hobby and sewing stores in August. I want it to be here all year long. I think God does too, only not in the commercial way that the stores have in mind, but in the genuine heartfelt change we see in the world eve... Full Story
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