Thursday Theological Threads

 Let’s play a game of Show-and-tell. Can you guess what this is? It’s a Lego car of an Aston Martin. It’s James Bond’s car. Now, let’s do a bit of trivia. Do you know the actor who played James Bond in the most movies? Roger Moore. And before Roger Moore was James Bond, he in a TV show called The Saint . And the reason we’re talking about this is because there’s an episode in that series called “The Effete Angler” (effete means ineffective and not manly) and that episode has the right name. Because it has the absolute worst fishing scene. As you watch it, it is so obviously bogus that it’s funny. It’s funny because Roger Moore hooks a small marlin and ferociously cranks on a large trolling reel, which, at one point, he’s holding upside down. And we’re talking about fishing because Jesus says he’ll make the disciples “fishers of men.” Before Jesus says this, we hear that John the Baptist has been arrested. To make a long story short, he said some things about the governor that the ...

  “If there’s a place you got to go / I’m the one you need to know / I’m the map / I’m the map, I’m the map / If there’s a place you got to get / I can get you there, I bet / I’m the map.” ‌ If you’re a parent or grandparent you probably know that song from Dora the Explorer. And now you’re wondering why we start with that song. It’s because God loves maps. So much so that he put a lot in the back of your Bible. All those color coded maps of the Mediterranean world. ‌ To be more serious, as you read the Bible, you’ll notice that certain places and mountains and rivers get mentioned all the time. Nothing is ever, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”  Everything is really happening at a real place. It seems like God is attached to certain places. ‌ You are made in the image of God. So do you reflect that? Are there places you’re attached to? Places that seem holy. Places where you go to recharge. Do you remember the places where big things happened in your life? ‌ I went...

  It is one of the happiest songs, and it has a catchy chorus, but most people don’t know what the song is about. I’m talking about the 1983 hit “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves. Do you remember that song? Yes. Do you remember what that song is about? No. Ok, we’ll look at the first stanza. “I used to think maybe you loved me now baby I’m sure / And I just can’t wait till the day when you knock on my door / Now every time I go to the mailbox, gotta hold myself down / ‘Cause I just can’t wait till you write me you’re coming around/ I’m walking on sunshine, wooah” The song is about how she’s in love. And she’s walking to the mailbox. The song is about this because it’s the time of day when she’s most filled with excitement and anticipation: Do I have a love letter? ‌ We feel love when we’re wanted and accepted. So how do you think she would feel if she walked to the mailbox and she found a letter telling her how she could be better, things she needed to do, so she could...