Posts filed under “faith”
Stewardship Testimony
I was asked to deliver a stewardship testimony at my church, First Baptist DC, last week. I threw together this statement about why I tithe and pledge at church. Apparently it was good enough to move a few people to give more — and the pastor forgot the order of service and jumped straight to [...]
Inside National City
Holy Week was a fairly busy time, especially musically: church choir was singing for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and of course lots of Hallelujahs for Easter Sunday. Good Friday was the climactic musical event for me, when we sang with the National City Christian Church choir in a joint performance of Theodore Dubois’ “The Seven [...]
Talking Above My Pay Grade
So how do I reconcile being a prolife Christian with supporting a pro-choice Democrat? I’m not going to cop out with a “pay grade” excuse. I believe life begins at conception, but I stand that we can do a lot more to save the unborn by being involved at a personal and community level rather [...]
Di Ka Nag-iisa + 25
Last Thursday, August 21st, marked the 25th year since the death of Ninoy Aquino. His opposition to the Marcos dictatorship and subsequent assassination sparked the flame of outrage which would lead to the EDSA People Power Revolution of 1986, sweeping Marcos from the presidency and restoring democracy to the Philippines. Ninoy’s wife Cory became President, [...]
Pope Passes Penn Ave
Birthday Boy Benedict XVI is in town, on the first papal visit to the United States Washington, DC since John Paul II came in 1979. Barricades lined Pennsylvania Ave in Foggy Bottom this morning, where the Popemobile would pass after a welcome at the White House: Myself, I haven’t seen a Pope since the last [...]
Drive-Thru Nativity
I was looking through Stynxno’s “Christmas 2007″ photoset and found a fascinating series of photos of a “Drive-Thru Nativity” — a concept with which I had been unfamiliar, but made for some remarkable pictures. (Update: More on this from stynxno himself.)
Christmas 2007
This has been a very momentous year for me — getting hired, getting married, getting a new place — and I am grateful and humbled by how far God has brought me. But I count it all as unto nothing beside the free gift of redemption I have received from the Savior whose birth we [...]
Banahaw in US News
Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to open up this week’s U.S. News and World Report to page 60, where you’ll find my article “The Draw of a ‘Holy Mountain,’” on Mount Banahaw in the Philippines, part of a larger series on Sacred Places. I’ve never actually been to the “pilgrimage” parts of Banahaw myself, (though my [...]
RLP’s Book
Once upon a time, Real Live Preacher wrote a book. It didn’t sell too well through regular publishing channels, so he started selling the remainder himself. With each order, he would personalize the delivery with a free gift and a pithy dedication commenting on the buyer’s shipping address. It was then that he discovered a [...]
Pastor in the Times
In the Washington Times: “Find Christ in the least of these,” a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Jim Somerville, pastor of my church, First Baptist DC (and a co-officiant at our wedding, I might add). He doesn’t want us to treat Him any differently than we treat anyone else. He wants us to treat everyone [...]