“No placebo effect going on there.” Much attention has been given to the placebo effect. The placebo effect shows that what we believe – what we think – matters when it comes to health. Some wonder if the positive effects on health of spirituality are simply a variant of the placebo effect. Wendy Margolese, Health Blogger
My mother – through her example and her actions – instilled in me a recognition of the value of spirituality as it relates both to health and to everyday life. She didn’t push spirituality at others, she quietly lived it – in patience, caring, tolerance, and in a daily practice of Scripture reading and prayer.
With the recent royal wedding, England has been the focus of much world-wide attention lately. Keeping attention on England for a bit longer, today marks the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of The Bible (KJV), first out in print in 1611.
KJV allowed the general English-speaking public to have access to Scripture. It allowed congregations to follow along together as Scriptures were shared from their pulpits.
According to Amazon.com, KJV “still ranks among the top two or three best-selling translations of Scripture in the United States each month.“
The Translators spoke of its value in their “Epistle Dedicatory” (dedication) when they said, “…among all our joys, there was no one that more filled our hearts, than the blessed continuance of the preaching of God’s sacred Word among us; which is that inestimable treasure, which excelleth all the riches of the earth; because the fruit thereof extendeth itself, not only to the time spent in this transitory world, but directeth and disposeth men unto that eternal happiness which is above in heaven.”
So, do you have an altimeter on the dashboard of your car to gauge your altitude?”
In my last blog post I discussed how metrics need to fit the thing being measured and how a one-metric-fits-all or one-metric-says-it-all approach can be misleading.
I attended the organizational meeting of the Health Policy Committee in the Michigan House of Representatives last Thursday and had the privilege of speaking with a number of committee members afterwards. Chairman Gail Haines of Waterford really has a good group on this committee. They bring together a very broad and diverse set of backgrounds in the area of health policy and they clearly have a passion for making improvements in our state in this area. I think that they will work well together and listen to a broad range of points of view as they do some good things in our state.
This video below showed me that the Christmas story can be told in the language of today’s Social Media and still share the same message.
So here’s a question: does something have to be new and popular to be relevant?
You really gotta check out this video:
(If the video above won’t play, click here to view it on YouTube).
That was Mary Margaret of Corinth Baptist Church telling the story of Jonah from the Bible. In her conclusion (at 8:05 in the video) in her words, God says, “My love is great.” “And it is for all my creatures.”
I read something in a newspaper recently that got me to thinking about the Bible’s place in society. Of course it is found in Christian churches. It certainly is found in my Christian Science church. And I teach from it in my Christian Science Sunday School. It is found in the homes of Christians. I have numerous copies in my home, most of them a bit worn. Sometimes it is found in the classroom, but only under certain conditions. I remember taking classes on the Bible in college, studying the Old Testament and then the New Testament. These classes primarily looked at the Bible from a literary and historical perspective.
These, of course, are geographical places. And these days the Bible is found in different forms. My favorite is my black leather Bible. I also have the Bible on my computer with additional translations, commentaries and Greek and Hebrew dictionaries for more in-depth study. The Bible is available on cassette and CD. Some have a Pod-cast version. These are the physical forms and places in which the Bible is found.
But thinking a bit more broadly, where does the Bible find its place in the heart?
