Welcome to the LCLL Blog

Welcome to Loving Christ, Loving Life! My name is Patrick Schultz. I serve as pastor for Franksville United Methodist Church in Franksville WI. I've been blogging for a number of years now. In this forum I want to reach out to a new group of people - readers of blogs. My writings are intended to share thoughts and insight with you. Hopefully you will find this of some value.

I invite you to email me with thoughts, correspondence or insight of your own at Pastor@Franksvilleumc.org.

May God's blessing be with you.

Patrick

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Is one faith one religion?

I just finished reading Cross-Cultural Paul (Cosgrove, Weiss and Yeo) for one of my doctoral classes. Cosgrove writes an interesting concept when talking about American Individualism.

"An ancient person who held that his or her religion was the one true religion might have reasoned that a state establishment of that religion protects people from false religious practice and does not hinder them from embracing the true faith from inner conviction. This is what led to Christendom in the West.... The strongest Pauline argument against Christendom is Paul's apocalyptic view of the world and the "powers". It is inconceivable in this view that the powers of the world might establish one true faith."

In our community and across the nation we have a multitude of religions and varying denominations within the Christian faith. The ability to worship in different ways is vital to our coming to know God better. Even as God has made each of us uniquely, we worship and receive the Word of God differently. That we can do so, here in this country is a testament to the wisdom of our founding nation builders. Cosgrove states, "The political freedom of the church requires a state that is restrained from any establishment of religion." It's a blessing to be part of a nation where this holds true.

Loving Kindness


My wife's dad passed away on May 12th.  So, Sunday, May 13th Brenda, Grace and I left for Kentucky for her father’s funeral arrangements and service.  As we were driving through Illinois we stopped at a local gas station.  A very nice lady, perhaps middle-aged, with a pronounced limp and a cane walked slowly by on her way into the gas station building.  As she passed she asked if we were from Wisconsin – she had seen our license plates.  “Welcome to Illinois” she said, with a bright smile.  “Are you staying?”  We said no, just passing through on our way to Kentucky. 


“Well, have a safe trip and again, welcome to Illinois.” 
 

What an uplifting gesture on her part.  She could have just walked by and right into the station, but her words of welcome, her smile, her kindness brought a bit of sunshine into the moment.  Moments like that serve as a reminder to me that kindness to another can lift one’s spirits – and perhaps our kindness, our words, our smiles come at a time when someone really needs them – whether we know it or not. 
 

Blessings to you all and see you on Sunday!