Homiletics or Harm-a-letics?

Today, one of my New Testament students was talking about how the Bible is interpreted. He kept mispronouncing homiletics (the study of the interpretation of the text) as "harm-a-letics." After a few mispronunciations I couldn't take it any more and said, "harm-a-letics" happens a lot, it is when people do violence to the text. What you mean is homiletics, which is the process of interpreting the text."

Which do you do-- homiletics or harm-a-letics?

The Power of Love

This past Sunday was Youth Sunday at Colonial Ave. Baptist Church. It is always an inspiring service when our talented and creative youth take the lead. This service was particularly moving because of the actions of a boy who has a touch of autism. One of youth was giving the message and was struggling to get through a point related to her parent's divorce a few years ago. She was choked up and was trying as hard as she could to keep back the tears. Then all of a sudden, the grade school child stood up, stepped into the aisle, and walked right up to the pulpit where the young lady was speaking and looked lovingly into her eyes. He knew she was struggling and wanted to let her know that he loved her, even if the only way he knew how was to stand beside her in a difficult time. There wasn't a dry eye in the house as we understood the message.
How often have we seen others hurting and didn't know what to do, when all of the while, what they needed was someone to stand with them and let them know by our presence that we love them. It was a profound message from such a young child. But as they say, "a little child shall lead them."