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  • A Tip of the Hat to Roger Williams

    For Taking a Boot to the Butt On this day in 1635 – Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony after religious and policy disagreements. This was a critical moment in American history and religious history, as well as in the fermenting of democratic, pluralistic values Williams swam in the waters of baptistic…

  • Dog Whistles

    I’ve spent no small amount of time pondering this. How is it that people I respect, people of integrity, and people I presume to be intelligent, believe a lie. In fact, one lie leads to another and trust is developed in the source of the lies, until it becomes very difficult for them to discern…

  • Let It Roll Down

    When do justice and righteousness roll down like streams of refreshing water? “But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” – Amos 5:24 It is as if Amos were here with us today. His words sing out the song of “judgment” or “justice.” It is a strong word for what…

  • Resolve

    Care to Lead a Blameless Life I will be careful to lead a blameless life— when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart.  –New International Version Psalm 101:2 Here is a fellow that had adjusted his thinking toward God and is already making music to…

  • Super-positioning the Cat

    We place this condition on superpostion. Consider the state of the innocent cat. The cat has not harmed you, and yet in its crate Until the lids lifted you toggle its fate. You, the observer, hold all the aces. You will determine its curses or graces Is it now dead or is it alive? Will…

  • Money Makes What Go Around?

    Contentment is not contained in wealth. You can be content whether you are wealthy or poor. Contentment is an attitude, choice, and way of thinking. We gain it in the pursuit of values that transcend wealth You have a relationship with money, whether you are aware of it or not. You may think there is…

  • Wanted

    “Tom, you’re not useless. We can always use you as a bad example.” Have you ever seen a want add for a bad example?—————HELP WANTEDBadly flawed, underqualified, low-motivated, mid-level manager to take responsibility for counter-intuitive training and institutionalized scape-goating for corporate inadequacies. No-experience needed. Apply in person. First in line gets the job. Tenure and…

  • Throw out the Idols

    In a World of Manure, You Might as Well Make Fertilizer Setting the Agenda: Reflections on Jeremiah 10:1–16 Part of the problem we have is an agenda — who sets the agenda, and how we live with the agenda we’ve chosen. I think that is part of what’s going on in Jeremiah 10:1–16. You cannot read Jeremiah in…

  • Balm

    It’s The Balm by Tom Sims Read on Substack https://substack.com/embedjs/embed.js

  • Checklists on the Path of Acting the Way We Ought

    I have two thoughts on behavioral checklists. One is about how central they were to the Wesleyan revival and the Holy Club at Oxford. The list was long and the accountability strong and it resulted in Methodism. The other was the old Baptist Sunday School 9-point record system on our offering envelopes: 1. Did you…