There’s an old Japanese legend about a man who dies and finds himself in the afterlife. I wonder what the Japanese idea of the afterlife would be? Would Godzilla (Gojira, in Japanese) be there? Do gigantic prehistoric lizards have souls? It’s a mystery, my son. Anyway, I digress. This fellow finds himself in the afterlife and is being show around by his spiritual guide. There were beautiful estates and lush gardens all around. Finally, he comes to a room lined with shelves. And on the shelves were stacks and stacks of ears. The man asks what’s with all the ears, and his guide tells him that...

Okay, I know this isn’t Sunday, but I had some more thoughts about the reading from the Gospel According to Matthew from a couple weeks ago and I wanted to pass them on. So in order to refresh your memory regarding the issue, let me very briefly paraphrase the story so you know what I’m talking about. Jesus was speaking to some people and teaching in parable. A parable is basically an analogy. It is a story designed to teach an abstract concept that can’t really be understood intellectually. In fact, the parables of Jesus are very much like the koans that Zen masters use to teach their students....

So this guy who owns a small winery goes out at the break of day in his pickup truck to find some day laborers. He goes over to Home Depot and picks up a few guys and takes them back to his vineyards. He offers them a fair wage, fifty dollars for the day, (if you can call less than minimum wage fair) and puts them to work picking grapes. By nine AM, however, he sees he’s going to need more guys. “Damn Mexicans!” he thinks, and gets in the truck and heads on out again in search of more workers. He finds some guys, says he’ll pay them a fair wage, and brings them back to the vineyards and...

I have a lucky elephant I want you all to know His name is Jim and I’m with him Wherever he may go He does not like the subway And he won’t fit in my car And Jim’s afraid of airplanes So we never travel far And when the police see us They say, “Take him to the zoo!” But Jim prefers to feed the ducks For something fun to do I met Jim on a Sunday And ever since that day He sticks with me like a shadow And he never goes away I ask him many questions Whenever I get stuck He always has an answer And he’s always brought me luck Whenever I get in a fix Jim has a tale...

He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven. –Thomas Fuller There is a story about a young boy that had never said a single word.  You know, most kids start talking when they are little babies and then they never shut up.  But this kid never talked at all.  When he was a toddler, the mother took the boy to the doctor to find out what was wrong with him.  The doctor examined the boy thoroughly, but could find nothing wrong with the child.  Eventually, the parents just accepted the sad truth that the boy would never...

I  like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. –Mohandas Gandhi Ghandi’s rejection of Christianity grew out of an incident that happened when he was a young man practicing law in South Africa. He had become attracted to the Christian faith, had studied the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, and was seriously exploring becoming a Christian. And so he decided to attend a church service. As he came up the steps of the large church where he intended to go, a white South African elder of the church barred his way at the door. “Where do you...