A View of the Gospel From Saturn

A View of the Gospel From Saturn


A View of the Gospel From Saturn

A few weeks ago, the Cassini spacecraft flew by Saturn. As it did so, it turned its cameras back toward earth and and snapped pictures of it just as the Voyager 1 space craft did so in 1990. If memory serves me correctly (which does not always do anymore) the image of the earth took about one quarter of a pixel of space on the photograph. Now Cassini-Hyguns has taken a slightly higher resolution photograph in which one can even see the moon along with the earth

The Psalms and Life in God’s Creation

The Psalms and Life in God’s Creation


The Psalms and Life in God’s Creation

This series, “The Psalms and Life in God’s Creation ” is presented in five video vignettes. The first four videos feature discussion of the text of texts from the Psalms by Dr. Tim Saleska and Dr. Chuck Arand in a casual, fun setting. In the video for the last session, Saleska and Arand sit down with Rev. Gary Ellul to discuss implications further implications for life together as church. The Leader Guides and Student Handouts were written by Pastor Ellul. The flexible format allows the facilitator to complete this study in as little as one session, or up to five

The 6th Day

The 6th Day


The 6th Day

One of my students who has an interest in the early church thought he had run across an indication that there were times when the early church fathers preached/lectured on the days of creation during Holy Week. Now whether or not they did so, I don’t know for sure. But as I reflected on the idea, it suggested some intriguing connections. It provides a way of pulling together the original creation and the new creation as it focuses on the central role of God’s human creatures in both instances


Whooping Cranes


Whooping Cranes

Peter Mathieson, in his book, Birds of Heaven, made the comment that one “one way to grasp the main perspectives of environment and biodiversity is to understand the origins and precious nature of a single living form” (Mathieson, xv). Following that advice, I’ve taken up an interest in whooping cranes and am seeking to learn all that I can them in terms of their life, habitat, and conservation efforts to save them. In addition, I’m hoping to visit various places in this country where those efforts are ongoing and write about them in the future. In the meantime, I ran across this really nice video from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Service that highlights their graceful beauty and sonorous bugling


Visualizing the Anthropocene


Visualizing the Anthropocene

In the last post, I mentioned a few examples of human influence on earth that have prompted many to now speak of the Anthropocene Epoch, the age of human transformation of the planet. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words (or more. Since then, I’ve run across several things that help us to visualize the extent of our impact upon the earth, both for good and ill


How Shall We Live?


How Shall We Live?

Seven billion people as of Oct 31, Reformation Day. The world’s population has more than doubled in my lifetime. For that matter, it’s increased three billion since I was in high school. It has increased by one billion in the last twelve years

Wetlands in Kansas?

Wetlands in Kansas?


Wetlands in Kansas?

When I think of the great plains, I think of wide open spaces, undulating landscapes like waves of an ocean, corn and wheat. I don’t think of wetlands. Yet on my way back from a workshop in Atwood, KS (where Don and Bonnie White were wonderful hosts), I stopped at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge