Sturtz Stuff

In Matthew 5:28 Jesus says “ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” I think that Jesus has just called us all adulterers. Jesus was a very provocative teacher. He challenged the statuesque. Issues of sexuality are typically not enjoyable topics espcially within the Church. Sexually has the potential for trust, life, commitment, sharing, caring and at the same time it has the potential for violence, shame, aggression, hatred and death. Some of the cruelest acts that human beings are capable of doing to other human beings are often sexual in nature. American society struggles with issues of sexuality often because we have come to believe that there is a separation between our physical bodies and our spiritual selves. We are all more Platonist then we realize. I would suggest that sexuality is deeply spiritual just like everything is spiritual. When we attempt to separate body and spirit then we often end livin...

The Seven Deadly Sins   If you don’t know what the seven deadly sins are then here is the list . . . Lust Gluttony Greed Sloth Envy Wrath Pride Turn on the TV.   Watch just about any movie. Pay attention to your own life and you will see Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Envy, Wrath and Pride. It can sometimes be difficult to talk about sin in general and it can get a little more complex within a Church setting. Within the Church some have abused others by using the word sin to heap on shame, fear and guilt. The word has even been used to threaten and manipulate people within the Church. Adding to these complexities there is often a silent assumption that when the word sin is used, in Church or elsewhere, everybody has the same understanding as to what that word means. Thus the word sin has been abused by some and is probably confusing for others. So does that mean that we should just throw the word out?   No Yet we need to recognize that talking ...

From WH Vanstone’s Love’s Endeavour, Love’s Expense , a passage that I’m sure any parent will be able to identify with: Love proceeds by no assured programme. In the case of children a parent is peculiarly aware that each step of love is a step of risk; and that each step taken generates the need for another and equally precarious step. In each word of encouragement lies the danger of creating over-confidence; in each restraint the danger of destroying confidence.  A risk is taken when the child is allowed to ride his bicycle on the road: when he returns in pride and confidence, the gain has justified the risk. But now there is a new danger of over-confidence, and the child must be warned – yet not so severely that his new-found confidence is destroyed.  In each expression of love to a child lies the danger that it will be exploited and that the child will be “spoiled” by taking as a right that which should be received as a gift: in each withholding of love’s expression...

            In Acts 12 King Herod starts making trouble for the Christians. Herod is a puppet King in the area of Judea for the Romans. The Romans selected Herod to do their bidding. This is not the same Herod when Jesus was born. That was the first Herod this his grandson. Yet, he is just a problematic for the followers of Jesus. Herod is seeking to get power and maintain power by making sure that the Jews like him. Herod notices that there was this one small group that was going around claiming that Jesus was the King of the Jews. Herod picked up on the fact this small group created a lot of conflict among the Jews. Perhaps Herod figured that if he picked off one of the minor leaders of the small group then maybe that might go over well with the larger Jewish population and their leaders. Herod could be calculating that that this action might gain him the trust and loyalty of the Jewish leaders.      ...

Tony got word that he had done a good thing. Tony's supervisor had noticed that he got to work on time and often stayed late. Tony’s hard work was rewarded and recognized by his supervisor in front of his fellow co-workers. It was pointed out that that ruff and gruff Tony had not had an accident on his crew in over a year. Tony has done a good thing. When the supervisor told these things to Tony in front of his crew he started to cry. He said “Nobody has ever said good things about me.”   Tony was so overcome that he invited the supervisor to his home. When the supervisor arrived Tony introduced him to his wife. She said “It has been like Christmas around here because of what you said.” About 12 years later Tony and his former supervisor met again. Tony was now a supervisor himself and working for a railroad company. They sat down over lunch to talk about old times. Tony said that “The day you told me I did a good job it changed my life. It made a difference in my li...

             It was August 24 410 CE. It was the day that the Army of the Goths sacked Rome. They burned and killed for 3 days and then left. For the first time in 1,000 years Rome was sacked. Impossible! How could this be? Augustine came along during this time and wrote a book called the City of God . Augustine said that the reason why Christians were freaking out was because they had associated the Kingdom of God with the Kingdom of Rome. Augustine says that there is no eternal human city. There is only one city that cannot be broken, beaten, injured, burned or bombed and it is the City of God. Augustine says that if you are freaking out over what is happening to Rome then you are greatly confused. You have confused the City of God with the City of Rome. If you stop there then you miss out. If you suggest that what really matters is some other city and not the city you live in then what you could conclude is that  ...

  Jonah 3:1-10- 4:1-5 This is probably one of the more surprising passages in all of scripture. It is surprising for many reasons. One of those reasons is the surprising sources of violence. The first source of violence is the pagan society of Assyrian. When I say pagan I mean a worldview. Paganism believes in many gods. When you look across history and the various societies/cultures that believed in paganism you discover that those societies/cultures were often violent cultures. For example the ancient Roman socieity was pagan and violent. Rome built the Colosseum. The Colosseum, by some estimates, could seat up to 50,000 people. These 50,0000 people would gather and cheer as they  witnessed  gladiators kill each other, lions eat people and others burned alive. And in those pagan cultures there was no concern for the poor or weak. In fact many of the gladiators that fought to the death in front of cheering crowds were slaves. Well why are pagan cultur...