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Showing posts from November, 2012

Phones... A CTJ classic joint

This piece was written in July of 2006. Anyone who has ever done any kind of customer service will recognize the scenario... phones.. phone rings shards of broken glass hit my ears. try to be polite she is yelling, ...oh no... want to say 'Go away',  instead say "How may I help you?" with a smile. What did you say your name was? want to say 'You weren't listening because your behind was screaming.' say "Cyril, C-Y-R-I-L" "PHIL? ok PHIL... You people need to..." teeth clench... I close my eyes and begin to fade, the cruise ship docks and I am in Bermuda, going to my cousin's house near the beach. Just as I relax, I hear her, like a growling dog. but my peace is restored. I am nice and polite.  I give her the 15 second answer to her 10 second question (surrounded by 5 minutes of griping). "Thanks Phil, you've been a great help." I wipe the blood from my ears... phone rings sha

True Love: A Sermon by pastor.ctj

'True Love' Preached June 24th 2012  at Norwalk United Methodist Church Norwalk, CT ____________________________________ It is common in the Study of the Bible, to always ask these questions when you read a passage: Who is talking, Who are they talking to? What is the writer’s purpose? What I find today however, is that too few of us make a study of the Bible, and are happy instead to draw from the opinions and feelings of others. The disastrous prosperity Gospel is but one example… But the scripture makes it clear that we are to study… Paul’s admonition to Timothy immediately comes to mind as does YHWH’s order to Joshua. And the scripture also tells us what it is for… At the End of the 20th Chapter of John’s Gospel he tells us why He wrote his. He says John 20:30-31 (HCSB) Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, th

On the death of a ministry (and the birth of another)

Note to you dear reader: This piece was originally written in  September of 2007, but I did not post it then, for fear of offending, and more importantly, the rawness of my own emotion and sadness... Since then, time has passed, wounds have healed, and relationships have been irreparably changed. It is time to post it... I attended a funeral this past Saturday. Funny thing though, the corpse didn’t know it was dead, at least not all of it. The last thing to die was its mouth, and it kept saying things like: “It’s not over, this is just a transition” . &  “This is a happy occasion” But it was not so. It is dead , and by the time of the funeral, it was rotting. People wept. Some came up to give tribute to the dead thing. Some testified as to how during its life the dead thing was such a blessing. One in particular moved me to tears as she described, weeping, the great change in her life. Even then 'the mouth' tried to silence her. The excuse given was that ‘we didn’