Tag: Jesus

TBT^16: Chapel Lesson: Listening

The Portly Politico3 Comments

Today is the second Chapel of the new school year, and the first devotional I’ll be giving as the Chaplain! My plan is to play a saxophone rendition of the hymn “Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling” and to tie that into my brief devotional.

That being the case, I thought I’d look back at this little devotional from a chapel way back in 2022, one that I’ve reblogged several times since then. It’s message is one we all need to hear regularly—especially me!

With that, here is 21 August 2025’s “TBT^4: Chapel Lesson: Listening“:

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Chapel Lesson: “Jesus Is Calling”

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Tomorrow is my first chapel devotional/lesson of the school year! The headmaster took the first one and gave a powerful sermonette to the students. I decided to build upon the theme of his talk while also incorporating my saxophone.

I recently played the classic hymn “Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling” at my old church one Sunday night (you can hear a bass guitar rendition here), and I’ve grown partial to the hymn over the past few years. I’m going to play my alto sax arrangement for the students before launching into my brief devotional.

With that, here is the text of the Chapel lesson I’ll deliver tomorrow:

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Telephone!

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Apparently, back in April blogger vᚻællKᚱᛁᛗvosᛏ of Vermont Folk Troth tagged me and several other bloggers in his post “Sonnelicht Telephone Whispers Game.” I don’t know much about vᚻællKᚱᛁᛗvosᛏ, but from what I can gather, he’s a pagan Vermont nationalist. That sounds on-brand for that part of the country.

What I do know is that my blog desperately needs some crosspollination with other blogs, so I’m going to join in on this game of telephone tag. Also, my apologies to vᚻællKᚱᛁᛗvosᛏ for not getting the notification back in April; apparently, Akismet was doing its job a bit overzealously. That said, thank you, my friend from the frosty North. May your people one day feel the breath of Odin wafting through their locks in the Republic of Vermont.

Now, on to the questions. vᚻællKᚱᛁᛗvosᛏ posed eleven questions to me; I, in turn, will pose eleven questions (goodness, that’s a lot) to some other bloggers, and we’ll all learn about each other (perhaps!).

Here are the questions:

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Wayback Wednesday^2: Gnostic Mysteries

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One of the enduring temptations for Christians of a more intellectual or theological bent is to take pride in their knowledge of Scripture. It’s scarily easy to fall into that trap, but it’s one that must be avoided, lest we either a.) fall into the heresy of Gnosticism or b.) are so proud in our knowledge, we sin against God. Really, both are likely outcomes, and “b.” includes “a.” Furthermore, no one is an effective witness if they come across as a boastful know-it-all.

The danger of that pride is very, very real. Consider that it was the pride of the Pharisees that condemned Jesus to the Cross. The pride of the Athenian elites condemned Socrates to hemlock. In both cases, the condemned poked at and exposed the foolish pride of their tormentors.

The appeal to know some “secret” knowledge, or to have the real answers, is one that those of an intellectual stripe must constantly guard against. I speak from experience (and that’s not me giving myself a very roundabout, backhanded compliment, but acknowledging that I have struggled with this sin). Ultimately, Jesus Is the Source of all Truth.

With that, here is 26 November 2025’s “Wayback Wednesday: Gnostic Mysteries“:

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TBT^4: A Discourse on Disclaimers

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In surveying the vast expansion of the much-discussed Overton Window last year, it seemed like things couldn’t get any better. After a decade of oppressive wokery, people were suddenly letting it all out in a cathartic moment that felt incredible.

A year on, it seems to be getting even better. Maybe that’s because I’m using Substack more, which basically takes all the hot takes of X and transforms them into pseudo-intellectual essays (the writing on Substack is really good, by the way). People on there have zero qualms about saying anything, which makes it a pretty exciting intellectual environment. When no idea—even the bad ones—are off-limits, everything gets discussed—and exposed.

It’s refreshing. I remember how bad things got in 2015-2016, when even here in super conservative South Carolina you couldn’t audibly espouse support for Trump in mixed company, and certainly not in a professional setting. Now people are like, “Trump hasn’t gone far enough.” I mean, look, I agree; it’s just wild how we can say it out loud now.

So, no more equivocating, folks, no more disclaimers. Let it all out in a flurry of free speech!

With that, here is 26 June 2025’s “TBT^2: A Discourse on Disclaimers“:

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TBT^256: Reclaim the Rainbow

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It’s truly wild to think how much the world has changed in just a few short years. When I first wrote this post in 2021, we were living through Peak Woke. The Left tried to discredit Trump with the Epiphany Demonstrations and Joe Biden served as a sleepy, somnambulant puppet for a shadowy cabal of hyper-progressive ghouls intent on devouring the corpse of decent society.

Now it’s like we’ve stepped into some kind of time machine or portal to another dimension. It’s not only tolerated, but almost borderline accepted that, say, people will openly complain about Indian H1B workers writing horrible code, or denouncing the oft-repeated lie about homosexual men not being into lurid acts with underaged kids (to be fair, it seems like our ruling class is also into that stuff—horrible!). People are saying things on the Internet and publicly that would have cost them their jobs in 2021—and, let’s be real, for as long as I’ve been alive.

I don’t know if this moment will fade once Trump leaves office or if we’ve really seen a cultural shift. I suspect that large corporations will simply go wherever they think the prevailing winds are blowing, which makes me pessimistic about the long-term prospects of such hardcore red-pilling in that arena. But people overall seem to be waking up to Reality.

Once again, the “Pride” celebrations seems muted. The flamboyant pastels and wiener-tucking kids’ clothes of yesterpride have been replaced with the drabbest of beiges—praise the Lord! I get The New York Times‘s The Morning newsletter sent to my school e-mail address, and the author for 1 June 2026’s newsletter wrote, “Happy Pride Month.” No even an exclamation point! He knew he had to write something about it, but it’s like that scene from The Office where Dwight puts up the banner that says, “It is your birthday.”

Finally, the way “Pride” Month should be observed—deflated balloons and declarative sentences.

Once again, I’ll renew my call that we restore the symbol of the rainbow as the sign of the covenant between God and Noah never to flood the earth again, rather than as a symbol of depraved sexual licentiousness and casual buggery.

With that, here is 5 June 2025’s “TBT^16: Reclaim the Rainbow“:

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Baccalaureate Service 2026

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Tomorrow night I will give the sermon for my school’s baccalaureate service.  This church service is for the graduating seniors, the Class of 2026.  After hearing a sermon based on Romans 12:9-21 this past Sunday, I thought the passage could prove fruitful as a “blueprint,” of sorts, for graduating seniors (and all others in attendance).  Here is the text of the sermon I’ll deliver tomorrow:

Good evening families, faculty, staff, and graduates of the Class of 2026. You are sitting here this evening at a threshold, a moment in your lives when you will soon pass from the world you know into a different one. As you cross this threshold of graduation, a great deal is going to change: your surroundings, your friends, your goals. It is an exciting and even scary process, as you are experiencing both a world in flux and flux in yourself.

The temptation will be great, therefore, to cast aside those things that are most essential, the “first things” that are always steadfast, in favor of the siren song of fleeting experiences and pleasures. The world will tell you, “do this thing and it will make you happy and bring you fulfillment”—and then it will sell some other “thing” next month, and the month after that. That road leads to emptiness and wasted potential.

So what should we do? How do we take this moment, lingering at the threshold, to prepare our hearts and minds for the changes ahead? The answer is love, love reflected through Christ’s Love for us.

Romans 12:9-21 (NKJV) offers some insights:

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things [or, “Do not be proud,” GNB], but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The Word of the Lord—Thanks Be to God. Let us pray.

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TBT^16: Go to Church

The Portly Politico1 Comment

Any churchgoing Christian will understand that feeling that sometimes hits on Sunday mornings—even though you typically want to go to church, you just don’t want to that Sunday.  The week is long and hard; the weekend is short (and usually full of the stuff you couldn’t get done during the week).

My brothers and I used to joke with our dad—a man who was borderline giddy as he’d wake us up for a marathon session of church (we were Pentecostal in the 1990s and early 2000s, so church was pretty much an all-day affair)—that we would “worship God in our own way” by staying home and playing Nintendo.  Thank goodness he had a sense of humor and understood we were lampooning the milquetoast cultural “Christians” and New Age spiritualists who framed staying home and washing their cars as an act of piety.

But the struggle is real.  I sincerely believe that Satan and his minions attack us the hardest right before church.  Like most things, the justifications are reasonable:  “I really need the rest”; “I have a crazy week ahead and need to get prepared for it.”  Sometimes those things are legitimate concerns; more often, though, they’re just lame rationalizations, and we know it.

I’m preaching to myself here.  I know from experience that missing one week of church makes it that much harder to return the following week; missing two weeks in a row or more is lethal to regular attendance.  Due to our current living situation and Dr. Wife finishing up residency, we often find ourselves out of town on Sundays, but we try to attend one of our churches.  Indeed, there have been times I’ve proposed staying home so we can “rest,” and she’ll insist we go to church.  She’s a good woman.

Again, I understand there are exceptions.  Some people—even here in the South—work on Sundays.  People travel.  Family events and the like sometimes interfere.  Look, I’m not a Catholic—I don’t believe your salvation is contingent upon checking off the “I attended Mass so I’m good for another week” box.  I do, however, believe that Scripture Instructs us to be part of a body of believers.

Going to church is beneficial spiritually first and foremost, but it’s also an opportunity to build Christian community.  In an age of economic isolation and social atomization, folks are desperate to be part of something bigger than themselves.  What’s bigger and better than the Bride of Christ?

Here in the South, there a sometimes more churches per square mile than people.  I know other parts of the country are not so fortunate, but churches are not hard to find.  Find a good one and start going!

With that, here is 17 April 2025’s “TBT^4: Go to Church“:

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