BOOK REVIEW: The Wise Men and the Star

In reading or hearing the account of the events surrounding Jesus’s birth you have ever wondered exactly who the wise men were or where they came from, this book is for you. Dean Miller wondered that and set out to “…solve the riddle of the wise men.”

His book takes the reader step by step through his process of determining the identity of the wise men and pinpointing where they came from. He presents his research and the conclusions he drew from that research in a thorough and detailed manner. Further, he does a brilliant job of recounting the history of the Jewish people, the birth of Jesus, and the journey of the wise men within the broader context of the various cultures and occurrences of the time. Due to this, I can see this book appealing to ancient history buffs regardless of any interest in the nativity story.

My only criticism of the book is that, for me, it was a little too detailed. In many places I would have preferred less detail and more headlines.

Favorite excerpt: Each of the three foreigners–these wise men/kings–presents his gift: one, gold, the second, frankincense, and the third, myrrh. Each of these presents has some theological meaning, gold signifying the kingship of Jesus, frankincense, his deity, and myrrh, his death.

 

birthplace of women’s rights

Do you know what city is the birthplace of women’s rights? No? Well, it’s Seneca Falls, NY.

I visited Seneca Falls the other day while I was on vacation in the Finger Lakes region of New York. It was very cool to be where some of the events I wrote about in When Going with the Flow Isn’t Enough actually took place.

Excerpt: “In 1848 Elizabeth Stanton emerged as a women’s rights leader. She, along with a handful of other women, organized the Seneca Falls Convention which was held that year in Seneca Falls, New York. Over three hundred people attended. Prior to the convention, Elizabeth wrote a Declaration of Sentiments, which she modeled on the Declaration of Independence. In that document she stated that men and women are created equal and proposed, among other things, a resolution demanding voting rights for women. She read her declaration at the convention. The final resolutions, including female suffrage, were passed.”

If you’re interested in reading When Going with the Flow Isn’t Enough, here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/When-Going-Flow-Enough-Upstream/dp/1625860714/

 

 

new author to follow

I have recently become a fan of author Colson Whitehead. I read his two most recent books, The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys. Mr. Whitehead’s writing is excellent though the content is emotionally difficult to read. I particularly like the following words of Mr. Whitehead in his introduction to The Nickel Boys:

“It was the spring of 2017, and I lived in a nation divided. After the last presidential election, it was impossible to ignore the unending barrage of chaos and strife, particularly when it came to race. How to reconcile the racial progress we’ve made since my grandparents’ generation with our current regression into bitterness, discord, and rage? … In writing these boys into existence, I might give voice to my own fear and confusion but also speak, in whatever small way I can, for the real-life survivors of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, my model for the Nickel Academy…Writing this book is one small way of bearing witness…”

 

 

Excerpt, When Going with the Flow Isn’t Enough:

…the church failed women by not taking the lead in setting women free as Christ intended. Rather, the church has allowed the world to take the lead and has followed its example. Well, the world, at least the United States, is now leading in a new direction regarding gender equality. My question to Christ followers now is: Are you willing to take a good, hard, honest look at the lens through which you view reality, and consider the possibility that maybe the values and beliefs you were taught growing up regarding the roles of the sexes is not actually what Christ taught?

Link: https://www.amazon.com/When-Going-Flow-Enough-Upstream/dp/1625860714/

 

 

uncommon bravery

If you are interested in reading a true story of uncommon bravery, I suggest you read Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan. It’s about a 17 year old Italian boy, Pino Lella, who risks his life to help Jews escape capture by the Nazis during World War II. I’m not even half-way through it yet and I’m already incredibly moved by it.

 

a polarized nation, a balanced view

I keep hearing on the news about how polarized and divided our country is and how bad it is that this is the current state of affairs. If you are distressed about this I encourage you to look at it from a broader perspective, i.e. –

1. Our country was so polarized over slavery in the 1800s that we actually divided into two nations and went to war with each other.

2. Our country was so polarized in the 1930s about participating in the war in Europe that Roosevelt delayed entering the war even though he knew it was the right thing to do. Perhaps if the United States had stepped in sooner, the war would have ended sooner and fewer people would have died.

3. We were also very polarized in the 1950s, ‘60s and 70s over civil rights and the Vietnam War. These divisions led to numerous acts of civil disobedience, demonstrations and riots in which countless individuals were injured and/or killed.

Our country survived all of these very trying times, and we will survive this one.

 

plumb line

“MY FAMILY IS NOT DYSFUNCTIONAL!” When I hear individuals vehemently make this statement I want to reply “How do you know? Are you familiar with the characteristics of a dysfunctional family?” As a trained marriage and family therapist with 27 years professional experience, I am familiar with these characteristics. I have a plumb line regarding this issue.

What is a plumb line? “It is an instrument or a tool, a cord with a lead bob attached to one end, used to determine perpendicularity, the depth of water, etc.” (dictionary.com)

“The instrument has been used since at least the time of ancient Egypt to ensure that constructions are ‘plumb’, or vertical…Until the modern age, plumb-bobs were used on most tall structures to provide vertical datum lines for the building measurements. A section of the scaffolding would hold a plumb line, which was centered over a datum mark on the floor. As the building proceeded upward, the plumb line would also be taken higher, still centered on the datum. Many cathedral spires, domes and towers still have brass datum marks inlaid into their floors, which signify the center of the structure above… Early skyscrapers used heavy plumb-bobs, hung on wire in their elevator shafts.” (Wikipedia)

Do you have a plumb line? In the context I am using it here, a plumb line is a standard or a set of guidelines by which one can live one’s life. My own personal plumb line is the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’s most famous sermon, found in the gospel of Matthew 5:1 – 7:29. In this sermon Jesus touched on every conceivable area of life, giving us clear guidelines by which we can choose to live.

Josiah is a biblical example of an individual who made a choice to live by God’s plumb line. Josiah was ruler over the people of Judah from 641 until 609 B.C. The choice he made to live according to God’s plumb line not only affected his life, it also affected the lives of the people in his kingdom.

Sometime during his reign, a priest “found the Book of the Law of the Lord that was written by Moses” (2 Chronicles 34: 14). It was found while repairs were being done on the Temple and is believed to be what later became the Book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Old Testament. The book, which was in the form of a scroll at the time, was taken to King Josiah and read to him. “When the king heard what was written in the Law, he tore his clothes in despair” (2 Chronicles 34: 19). He had not realized until then just how far off track, how out of sync with God’s commands, his people really were. He then sent some of his most trusted advisors “to consult with the prophet Huldah. She was the wife of Shallum” (2 Chronicles 34: 22). When the king’s advisors told him what Huldah said, he instituted major religious reforms throughout his kingdom.

The full account of this event is told in 2 Kings Chapter 22 and 2 Chronicles Chapter 34.

 

a definition of great

“… a great nation is a compassionate nation. … America has not met its obligations and its responsibilities to the poor. … One day we will have to stand before the God of history, and we will talk in terms of things we’ve done. Yes, we will be able to say we’ve built gargantuan bridges to span the seas. We built gigantic buildings to kiss the skies. Yes, we made our submarines to penetrate oceanic depths. We brought into being many other things with our scientific and technological power. It seems that I can hear the God of history saying, ‘That was not enough! But I was hungry and ye fed me not. I was naked, and ye clothed me not. I was devoid of a decent sanitary house to live in, and ye provided no shelter for me.’” Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, March 31, 1968 at the National Cathedral, Washington D.C.

 

The Bible & Science

I am currently reading American Gospel by Jon Meacham. The following excerpt grabbed me, speaking to me very loudly. I am sharing it with you because I am hoping that it speaks to some of you as well. Here it is:

“What is essential–and what has long been part of religious intellectual traditions–is to draw not only on scripture but on reason and experience when contemplating the nature and problems of the world. In the seventeenth-century battle between the Catholic hierarchy and Galileo over whether the earth revolved around the sun or vice versa, it was Galileo–a Christian–who understood better than his persecutors how to reconcile apparent contradictions between faith and science. ‘If Scripture cannot err,’ he said, ‘certain of its interpreters and commentators can and do so in many ways.’ In other words, if reason leads humankind to discover a truth that seems to be incompatible with the Bible, then the interpretation of scripture should give way to the rational conclusion. In this Galileo was echoing Augustine, who wrote, ‘If it happens that the authority of Sacred Scripture is set in opposition to clear and certain reasoning, this must mean that the person who interprets scripture does not understand it correctly.’ … Augustine’s work enables thinking Christians to take advantage of scientific and social advances without surrendering the authority of revelation. Guided by these lights, believers have (however slowly) removed the biblical support for the ideas that the earth, not the sun, is the physical center of the universe, that women are property–and that slavery is divinely sanctioned. The lesson is that purely religious arguments may not be sufficient to get us to the right result. The faithful should see that God meant for them to use reason as well as revelation as they make their way through the world.”

 

E Pluribus Unum

As I was doing research for the manuscript I am currently working on, I came across an excerpt from one of President Obama’s speeches in Diana Butler Bass’s book Christianity After Religion. I decided to post it as it really resonates with me. Here it is:

“In May 2011, President Obama began a speech by telling a story about Miami Dade Community College, a school where immigrants from 181 different nations had earned degrees. ‘At the commencement ceremony,’ he said, ‘181 flags–one for every nation that was represented–were marched across the stage, and each one was applauded by the graduates and the relatives of the graduates with ties to those countries.’ He explained. ‘When the Haitian flag went by, all the Haitian American kids shouted out; when the Guatemalan flag went by, all the kids of Guatemalan heritage shouted out.’ So it went with 181 different nations, 181 different flags, and 181 different ethnic groups cheering their native places. ‘But then,’ the president continued: ‘The last flag–the American flag–came into view and everyone in the room erupted in applause; everyone cheered. It was a reminder of a simple idea as old as America itself: E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one. We define ourselves as a nation of immigrants, a nation that welcomes those willing to embrace America’s ideals and America’s precepts. That’s why millions of people, ancestors to most of us, braved hardship and great risk to come here so they could be free to work and worship and start a business and live their lives in peace and prosperity.’ This, President Obama concluded, was the American future: out of many, one.”

My ancestors came to the United States from Ireland during the potato famine, the Great Hunger. They came because their survival depended on it. I hope that we continue to be a nation of immigrants, offering hope and safety and a second chance to those who need it.