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Psalm 116; Mark 16: 1-8 In a recent Gallup poll young people ages 13 to 15 stated that their major fears included such items as terrorist attacks, nuclear war, gang violence, spiders, and the future. Apart from spiders, the items on the list reflect one of our most basic human fears – the fear of the unknown. That fear is intimately connected to our fear of loss of control over our lives. That fear drives our response to changing forces in society, illness, and, of course, the ultimate question of our own death.
Death
is the great unknown. Although we read about near death experiences, none of us here know someone who has actually returned from the dead to tell us what actually lies beyond the grave. We depend on religion to tell us that. In fact, the burial of the dead is the earliest evide...
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Jonah 1: 1-17; Mark 4: 14-20 Many, if not most, of us have stories about being dragged by our parents to some place we did not want to go. For me, it was the dentist. I would have rather died a thousand deaths rather than go to the dentist. Dr. Stohlman was my father's dentist; I remember he spoke with an accent. At that time I thought it was German and World War II being so close to my childhood, his humorlessness and way of working quite frankly made me think of Nazis. I used to have nightmares the night before a Saturday appointment. Images, however, cloud our minds. Much later, when an adult, I had asked my father about old Dr. Stohlman, my father told me he had been part of the earlier Jewish migration during the early thirties. To say the least, I felt chagrined.
That is, of course, what our re...
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Psalm 83; Luke 11: 14-26When I practiced law -- great phrase, “practiced,” like it’s not
real -- be that as it may, but when I practiced law back in Connecticut, the probate judges would routinely appoint me to represent alleged incapables in court. They picked me because they knew I took the work seriously. After all, it would be
my recommendation as to whether people would be involuntarily committed to Connecticut Valley, established by Dorothea Dix in 1867 or would be considered incapable or managing their own affairs.
The guard at Whiting, the hospital for the criminally insane, told me he wasn’t permitted to leave the room so I decided to get a bit closer to the man in the Texas belt -- a thick leather belt with handcuffs attached so the hands are not free. I’...
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