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Michael Duduit
November 1999
Just one hundred years ago, church leaders looked ahead to what many affectionately dubbed the "Christian century." The twentieth century...
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Michael Duduit
September 1999
Until today, I did not know there was a Directorate of Time. I learned about it in a book I am reading -- as quickly as possible --...
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Michael Duduit
July 1999
Ahh, summer is here at last. Time for the beach, barbeque, and hermeneutics.Visiting with Pastor Bob the other day, I asked, "Well,...
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Michael Duduit
May 1999
In the fifteen years in which Preaching has been published, only two members of our Board of Contributing Editors have gone to be with...
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Michael Duduit
March 1999
There aren't too many things that really, really annoy me. It takes a real blunder to get my juices cooking -- like a beautiful sirloin...
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Michael Duduit
January 1999
I'll never forget the time I was in a Christian bookstore in Jacksonville, Florida. I was browsing around and lusting after various...
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Michael Duduit
November 1998
I got some bad news the other day: the software we use to record and maintain the subscriber files of Preaching is not "Y2K compliant."...
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Will Jesus Make it to the Super Bowl?
Will Jesus Make it to the Super Bowl?
By Michael Duduit
Some things you just have to see for yourself. Go to your computer right now and look this up: http://www.catholicshopper.com/products/inspirational_sport_statues.html For those who don't have access to the Internet -- the above link takes you to an order page for Jesus Inspirational Sports Statues. According to the dealer, these "handpainted resin statues on a solid wood base ... portray Jesus actively participating with boys and girls in a variety of sports. A wonderful way to reinforce Jesus 'as friend' in everyday activities." Sure enough, you'll find statues of Jesus playing baseball, basketball (I think he's about to do an "in your face" dunk over the six-year-old's head), soccer (as he elbows the young boy out of the way as he prepares to kick the winning goal). Another statue portrays Jesus taking a handoff as another boy foolishly attempts to tackle him. (Is that considered a sin?) Other statues show Jesus with children playing golf, doing ballet (obviously not a Baptist interpretation of Jesus' leisure activities), and martial arts. (Fortunately, the statue does not show Jesus doing a karate chop on someone's head.) I particularly like the hockey statue, where it looks as if Jesus is about to check his opponent on the way to a winning goal. (A theological question here: can Jesus ever miss hitting a goal?) There are more statues (including skiing, running, and so on), but you get the idea. I must admit as I look back on my own misspent youth of playing baseball and flag football, I never actually thought about Jesus playing those sports with me. I guess as an eight-year-old I probably thought He had more important things to do, like sustaining creation and keeping the deacons in line and stuff like that. I'm not sure if a statue like this would have inspired me to great athletic achievements or not. (Hard to say, since I sort of peaked as an athlete in third grade.) Now that I see what's possible, I can visualize a whole new line of Jesus statues for adults. Think of the possibilities: Jesus as accountant, sitting at the calculator. If He'd been on the job, Arthur Andersen would have blown the whistle on Enron right away. There would be no statues of Jesus standing at a shredder. Or Jesus as check-out clerk, always getting the change correct. Or Jesus as a businessman doing a hostile takeover, but being very compassionate in handing out the pink slips. Maybe a statue with Jesus as webmaster, sitting at the computer with dozens of coffee cups everywhere. (A theological question here: would Jesus pay $3 for a cup of Starbucks, or would he go for the discount stuff and give the rest of the money to the church building fund?) Of course, my favorite statue would be the one of Jesus as pastor, sitting at His desk working on next week's sermon - with an open copy of Preaching magazine in front of Him!
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Ralph Douglas West is the founding pastor of The Church Without Walls (Brookhollow...
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In storytelling, it makes a difference how you tell it.
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Since 2003, John Ortberg has served as senior pastor of the Menlo Park Presbyterian...
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