Author Archives: Richard Heyduck

Once upon a time it seemed a good thing to many United Methodists that our denomination was not fraught with doctrinal disputes and narrowmindedness the way some are. The phrase, “The thing I like about being United Methodist is that … Continue reading →

If found guilty, Stroud could lose her ministerial credentials. Her church has established a legal defense fund to help her pay for church attorneys. If she’s confessed to it, how can she not be found guilty?

At one time there were 380 tons of high explosives at this Iraqi base. Now (apparently) the explosives are not there. Kerry and his campaign are shouting high and low that this is yet more evidence of mismanagement by Bush. … Continue reading →

This is only a tiny (the last) part of an extensive interview with Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, Biblical Scholar, evangelical leader and member of the commission that produced the report. He brings up the very important subject of adiaphora … Continue reading →

It has been more than 100 years since the Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson’s great-great-grandmother was prohibited from marrying her great-great-grandfather. She was Irish and he was black – mixed-race marriages were illegal then in Virginia. It seems odd to say … Continue reading →

Last Summer Lyle Schaller spoke to a group at the meeting of the Northern Illinois Annual Conference. His basic message is that that Conference, if they keep going in the same direction, will not be with us much longer. The … Continue reading →

The third stanza of Henry Tweedy’s hymn, O Spirit of the Living God, contains a Bozo line – one line that makes me cringe every time I read it. Teach us to utter living words of truth which all may … Continue reading →

Day 10 is all about surrender. Some really good stuff. Unfortunately, there is also one sappy, sentimental line. “If you want to know how much you matter to God, look at Christ with his arms outstretched on the cross, saying, … Continue reading →

The Windsor Report, in response to the American ordination of Gene Robinson as Bishop, and to Canadian acceptance of rites blessing same-sex unions and to the world wide response to these events has now been published. I’m still reading it, … Continue reading →

An example of a UM church practicing generic religion. They don’t need the cross, don’t need the bible, don’t need Jesus. But they have Personality.