Forney Charities
Improving communities by helping residents, one person at a time.
Category: Uncategorized
The Summons of the Via Dolorosa
Today, my issue of the Living Church arrived and on the front cover was a picture of the “Harrowing of Hell.” This image is from the Icon Museum in Recklinghausen, Germany, artist unknown. In the Apostles Creed, one line reads, “he descended to the… Continue Reading “The Summons of the Via Dolorosa”
I Only Know That…
There’s an old song from the 80s by Boxcar Willie. Born as Lecil Travis Martin, one day sitting at a railroad crossing he saw a boxcar go by and in the door was a fellow who looked like his loading master in the Air… Continue Reading “I Only Know That…”
The Invitation of Living Water
One of the most foreboding places on this earth is a scorching, dry desert. I remember my first church off the 395 Highway in Randsburg, California. Randsburg in the 1890s had been a thriving gold mining community of over 6000. More gold was taken… Continue Reading “The Invitation of Living Water”
Journey into the Unknown
The beginnings of ambitious journeys are often beset by missteps and bad luck. Or sometimes splendid serendipity. Nothing certain here – that’s definitely the case with any Lenten journey taken in deep prayerful seriousness. It was certainly the case for one man’s most ambitious… Continue Reading “Journey into the Unknown”
How is it With Your Soul?
Philip Roth wrote a novel set in the 1990s, The Human Stain, being the last of a trilogy on American life. It looks at the messiness of human existence, and how, in finality, there are no complete remakes, no ultimate do-overs. The American myth… Continue Reading “How is it With Your Soul?”
Light Shining in ICE Darkness
We’ve all seen the sickening TV coverage. ICE agents bursting into people’s houses. No warrant. Hauling out suspected immigrants in their underwear, forced to lie facedown in the snow. No warrant necessary. Car windows smashed as a disabled woman is jerked out of her… Continue Reading “Light Shining in ICE Darkness”
What Does the Lord Require
In our basic training post at Fort Sam in San Antonio, all of us in Company D-3 were conscientious objectors to be trained as Army Medics. Before going on to our medic training, we went through an 8-week course. Usually in the evening if… Continue Reading “What Does the Lord Require”
We’ve Been to the Mountain Top
It was a cold and rainy night in Memphis, Tennessee. As the sanitation workers were given no provision to get out of that weather, two Black workers had taken refuge in the bin at the back of their truck. Inadvertently, they were crushed to… Continue Reading “We’ve Been to the Mountain Top”
Our Baptismal Vows
I vividly remember a critical moment in our confirmation class when I served a medium-sized United Methodist Church out in Ridgecrest. As in the Episcopal Church, confirmation is that ritual wherein one claims for oneself the baptismal vows they made, or were made on… Continue Reading “Our Baptismal Vows”
Let Your Love-Light Shine
The story goes in Matthew that there was an anomaly in the sky, something ajar. More than a shooting star caught their attention. In a world beset by a great malaise, a wonder to behold. In that “bleak midwinter frosty wind made moan.” And… Continue Reading “Let Your Love-Light Shine”
