August 2011 – 300 words a day

IMDb and a new Bible handbook

Pick a movie and the Internet Movie Database will give you a plot summary, tell you who is in it, give you some favorite quotes, tell you who wrote it and who directed it. Because I like to know what a movie’s about before I spend the time and money, I use IMDb every time […]

by Jon Swanson

The heart of the story

What if you were to start the fall with a course that would let you get a big picture of the Bible? This week, I’m going to look at some new and new-to-me books that do that. Next week, I’ll talk more about such a course. Regular readers here know that I talk often about […]

by Jon Swanson

Back to school (a repost)

(This was first published September 7, 2010.) The assumption of school is that people can learn. The assumption of summer vacation is that people need a break from learning. The assumption of grade levels is that people mature. The assumption of curriculum is that structure can help the process of learning. The assumption of teachers […]

by Jon Swanson

Our sabbath group

Most Saturday nights, a dozen of us get together in the church basement. Two or three people bring the meal. Mostly comfort food. Someone from the family that brings the meal thanks God for the food and the time together. And then we eat, gathered around a long table. We take an hour or so, […]

by Jon Swanson

Maybe it isn’t a poem.

There are spaces in the Gospels where a trip is summarized with “they traveled to” or “sometime later”. We don’t know what happened in those gaps, in those times of traveling, in those periods of just living. One day, perhaps, Jesus and the disciples were traveling through the hill country. They stopped, midday, under the […]