Tom's Northwest Passages

http://wipfandstock.com/healing-church-strife-in-the-new-testament-and-today.html New Title From James Christensen and Thomas F. Johnson Healing Church Strife in the New Testament and Today Beyond Matthew 18:15-17   When churches experience troubling conflicts, they are likely to be offered Matthew 18:15–17 as the only solution. This book opens our eyes to the rich variety of conflict solutions that are described throughout the New Testament. Healing Church Strife explores options for our time, and the reader receives practical suggestions that are biblically based. James Christensen MSW, PhD, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), specializes in helping churches manage conflict. During the past fifteen years he has worked with congregations in northwest Washington, Alaska, and in Vienna, Austria. In addition, he trains pastors and other church leaders and consults with church judicatories on policies and practices. Currently he serves as Con...

Stay positive in relationships with other people and in one’s attitude toward oneself. Minimize or eliminate all criticism, complaining, and arguments. When you have to choose between being right and being kind, choose kind (Dyer). Always admit when you are wrong, biased, and limited in your own view. When disagreements are important, not over trivial matters, seek for common ground. Emphasis what you have in common with others and what is praise-worthy. Take a genuine interest in other people. Remember and use the other person’s name. Listen more than you talk. Encourage people to talk about themselves and their interests. Treat people with respect and consideration. Try to see things from the other person’s point of view and empathize with their concerns. Stay in the interrogative mode: what if . . ., could we . . . how would it work if . . .? Find a way to win-win, avoiding win-lose (Covey). Praise every improvement or positive change. Encourage people...

A 2015 Christmas Thank You from Tom and Michele Johnson This was the year of the anniversary - our fiftieth - and we celebrated all year. The official date was March 26th, but we didn’t let that narrow window of time stop us from enjoying the whole year with each other, our family, and you.  So, thanks to the people we love, who have included us in their love for a wonderful 2015, esp. to our children: Jason, Amy, & Sarah, their spouses (Helen, Peter, & Matt), and our three grandkids (Nina, Nathaniel & Sam). I guess you all meant it when you said to us last Jan, 1, “ Happy New Year!! ” It was indeed. Thanks to friends at St. Augustine’s and St. Stephen’s Episcopal churches, and at Oak Harbor Lutheran Church with whom we prayed, sang, planned, studied, retreated, ate, and talked. Thanks to all the people with whom we got older, grieved the loss of friends, read books, and shared coffee, beer, meals, a second annual (may there be a third, Go Seaha...

My View of Gay/Lesbian Marriage First, a little context. I was asked to write this essay by good Christian friends, people I love and respect, who do not understand my support for gay marriage. How can a Christian who takes the Bible seriously, as they and I do, hold this viewpoint? Well, here is a personal account, not a logical argument, for how I came to hold my outlook on this issue. I have come to the views I currently hold on gay and lesbian marriage, on the basis of a long period of reflection on biblical texts (authoritative for Christians), reason (what seems logical or rational to me in the light of evidence), and my experience with friends and relatives who are gay or lesbian. All these factors shape my understanding of homosexuality and gay marriage. I never believed that homosexuality itself was wrong, immoral, or unethical. But I did believe, at one time, that the practice of it was wrong for Christians. It seemed to me that certain passages in the New Testamen...

At Christmas 2014 This is a rambling account of our year. Please feel free to stop reading at any point. There were pictures in the .pdf version. Ask me and I'll send you that version as well. On January 4, the day the family left after a wonderful Christmas time together here in Coupeville, we were in the airport ready to leave for San Jose del Cabo, when we noticed a hemorrhage in Michele’s eye. Checking it out, we discovered that it might be serious, and so took the shuttle back to the Island and had an emergency appointment with an ophthalmologist. Canceled the Mexico trip. Eventually, we found the cause, no surgery needed, the bleeding stopped, and eventually the floaters became less visible. Michele kept busy all year working as a volunteer with the Lighthouse Environmental Project, accountant for Habitat for Humanity, tax preparer for the AARP free tax prep service, and at our local food bank, Gifts from the ...

GENERAL: * ADLER, MORTIMER, HOW TO READ A BOOK *BENNIS, WARREN, ON BECOMING A LEADER *COVEY, STEPHEN, THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE THEOLOGICAL: BONHOEFFER, DIETRICH, LETTERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON *BRUNNER, EMIL, THE WRITINGS OF, ESP. TRUTH AS ENCOUNTER CALVIN, JOHN, INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION LADD, GEORGE E., A THEOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT *LEWIS, C.S., THE WRITINGS OF, ESP. SURPRISED BY JOY  LUTHER, MARTIN, THREE TREATISES NIEBUHR, H. RICHARD, CHRIST AND CULTURE PINNOCK, CLARK, THE OPENNESS OF GOD STOTT, JOHN R.W., BASIC CHRISTIANITY TALBOTT, THOMAS, THE INESCAPABLE LOVE OF GOD TILLICH, PAUL, THE WRITINGS OF PHILOSOPHICAL: BUBER, MARTIN, I AND THOU CARNELL, E.J., A PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION COPLESTON, FREDERICK, A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY HOLMES, ARTHUR, ALL TRUTH IS GOD’S TRUTH *PIRSIG, ROBERT, ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE DEVOTIONAL/SPIRITUAL CLASSICS: *BIBLE INCLUDING TH...

                      REASONS FOR LEARNING NEW TESTAMENT GREEK           There are many reasons for learning New Testament or Koine Greek. Some people just don't have anything better to do with their time. Bored of TV sports, reality and game shows, and video games, they say to themselves, "Gee, I think I'll learn Greek." Now, I will grant you that this doesn't happen very often, and some of these people are institutionalized. The Nielsen ratings for New Testament Greek are also pretty low compared to Monday Night Football and Wheel of Fortune, the last time I checked.           Other people learn New Testament Greek in order to speak it conversationally. They are usually very disappointed to discover that it is a dead language. It used to be pretty popular around the time of Jesus. But now, not even Greeks speak it anymore, and New Testament Greeks are all dead.  ...