recent posts
By Joe Henriques, @MBCTysons Campus Pastor
The time has come once again to remember the tale of two fowl cousins: The bald eagle and the turkey. Back when America was very young, there was a lot of talk about the turkey. That’s because our founders were trying to figure out which bird qualified to become the symbol of this newborn nation.
National Symbol
Benjamin Franklin had suggested, “How about the turkey?” To him, the bald eagle’s distant cousin was perhaps a better choice. He wrote to his daughter, “For the Truth, the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original Native of America…He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage,…
By Joe Henriques, @MBCTysons Campus Pastor
All I wanted at the pet store were a couple of snails for my small aquarium. I got a bonus deal: Snails plus a mini-workshop on labor relations.
“So, how’s it going today?” I asked the young man who was putting my tiny purchases in water-filled bags. “Not so good,” he responded. “Some days are like that for all of us,” I offered, as a way of solidarity. “Yeah, that’s true,” he replied, but then quickly added, “But, I love my job.” I looked at him with amazement and exclaimed, “Not a whole lot of people can say that! What makes you love your job?” “My boss,” he smiled. “She’s always positive, always encouraging me, helps me to do…
By Joe Henriques, MBC Tysons Campus Past0r
You’ve got to be pretty important for a city like Chicago to dye its river green in your honor, to be celebrated by parades on a holiday named after you, and to have people throughout the world paying you tribute.
Your name would have to be Patricius, now known as Patrick – St. Patrick, to be exact.
Even the Chinese government made part of the Great Wall of China go green! Patrick must be powerful!
Even though almost no one today hints of anything spiritual behind this Irish Day, it makes sense that “Saint” Patrick’s Day was once a…
By Joe Henriques, MBC Tysons Campus Pastor
Post was originally published by Joe Henriques on January 20, 2010 at http://mbctysonsblog.org.
Yesterday, I enjoyed extra time with my family because it was a holiday called Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. But, we never talked about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the impact that he made on life in America. I’m guessing that most of you reading this didn’t talk about him, either. The same would be true if it were President’s Day, or Memorial Day, or—most sadly for many Americans—Christmas.
As a society, we enjoy the shadows and often don’t give much thought to the substance that made it possible. In fact, celebrating shadows is so pleasurable and celebratory in itself, that…
By Joe Henriques, MBC Tysons Campus Pastor
Has the thought ever crossed your mind that the angels’ song, “Peace on earth and good will towards men,” is a wonderful and wistful sentiment, perfect for a Christmas carol, maybe a goal to work towards, but really not very useful or even true for everyday life? If so, hold on. There’s more to the story.
Angels are smart. There must have been a good reason for them to belt out that promise from heaven to earth with such robust gusto. Look at it this way: For millennia they had witnessed firsthand God promising through the prophets that one day the Messiah would come to bring God’s rule to Israel and to the world….
Is getting baptized a big deal? It all depends on what it means. To get an idea of its importance, think about the following.
What if you’re attending a wedding ceremony, and the pastor asks the groom, “Will you take this woman to be your wife? If so, say ‘I will,’” and the groom responds, “Do I really need to say that?”
Or, let’s say you’re at a ceremony for new citizens, and the judge says, “Please rise to take the Oath of Citizenship and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution,” and a non-citizen immigrant says to the judge, “I want to have the benefits of being in America, but I really don’t want to be called an American citizen. Can I…
Racial divides and cultural conflicts have been the cause of human tragedies around the world for millennia. Ethnic cleansing is but one horrific example of one group’s attempt to completely expunge another from the face of the earth. The root of such atrocities isn’t mere preference, not even prejudice, but what the Bible calls “partiality”, the looking down on one group while looking up to the other. Taken to its extreme, mixed with fierce pride, hearts of people seethe with anger and resentment towards others. Devastation and destruction, enmity and hostility––sometimes raging for hundreds of years––are the results.
What is powerful enough to break down the entrenched barricades separating people, and at the same time build up strong…