Here’s where the roving eye of Bob Sitze lands on interesting or important events, trends, discoveries, opinions or research that are part of contemporary life. Sometimes missed in spiritually oriented utterances, the stuff of life consists of all the places where God’s hand stirs, supports or motivates. These blogs may also include links for further information or action.
One of the possible benefits of growing older is the ability to see what might not work. A lifetime of experience can also hone our sense of possible danger. Today I take the risk of offering a warning about the (pressurized, flammable or explosive) expansion of society’s fascination with artificial intelligence. Forgive me for temporarily muting the significance of theological truth in thisMORE...
“What’s Lent all about?” Recently, our pastor—quoting a *long-time friend—observed that “Lent is a time to drop pretense.” That startling idea instantly gathered together most of Lent’s rich contemplations. My thoughts—echoing and buoyed by our pastor’s further sermon observations—turned in these directions…. Pretense? I’ve always thought of it as not-so-good, part of the self-delusions thatMORE...
A *recent article in The Atlantic caught my attention. Its title, “We’re Already Living in the Metaverse,” is striking. The subtitles are even stronger: “Reality is blurred. Boredom is intolerable. And everything is entertainment.” Some reactions….. What Atlantic staff writer Megan Garber observes about our society—about each of us?—is that we may be so thoroughly immersed in a culture ofMORE...
Tomorrow’s reminder: God’s love redeems us. We’re saved not only from eternal punishment, but also made useful for God’s purposes. We experience that love in our love for each other. Lives bent toward loneliness, despair or self-doubt are turned around by the tangible evidence that someone else cherishes us. When love finds us, we’re rescued, retrofitted with hope and reinforced for purposedMORE...
When I fill out forms that are necessary for navigating my current existence, I sometimes come up against questions where my likely answer is not included in the possible responses. So I enter D/N/A or N/A. Every day I deal with all sorts of messages that claim to be important enough for me to read, explore further or answer. It would be easy enough to open all of them—and enter the danger zonesMORE...
At various occasions in my life, 1catharsis has been a useful concept. At one time in my earlier decades—lasting maybe ten years or so—this word characterized a decision-making process about my 2eventual lifework. What I remember is that the process took awhile. It was slow. The swirl of colliding emotions had to settle down, to get sorted out. Changing circumstances, contexts and other realitiesMORE...
(The following comments come from our years living in South Lake Tahoe, CA, where the casino-oriented culture correlated with a dismal social landscape that included the highest per capita crime rate in the State of California.) Recent news headlines have announced these statistics for Illinois: In October, sports betting surpassed the $1 billion mark. The state’s share: Over $560 millionMORE...
Living joyfully through a variety of worship services this past holiday season, I realized how many descants I’ve heard during that time. As you might imagine, “This got me to thinking….” In its original Latinate form, a descant was a cantus (voice) set apart. Connected loosely to the emergence of polyphonic (many-voices) musical styles, the descant was a melody—usually sung or played at aMORE...
(The Sunday after Christmas is sometimes designated as Holy Family Sunday, a time to remember how Joseph, Mary and Jesus escaped Herod. Today my thoughts about another way to think of that event.) CHARACTERS Herod (Computer hacker) The Holy Family (Computer innocents) The Magi and an angel (Geek Squad) TRADITIONAL STORY Generously gifted by the Wise Men, Mary and Joseph may not haveMORE...
Today might be a good time to start thinking about this coming Holy Family Sunday: Imagine how it might have felt for Mary and Joseph after the shepherds had headed back to their flocks. This new family was alone once again. Their makeshift maternity ward was still a stable. They were still political pawns in Rome’s bean-counting census. They were still strangers in this village far away fromMORE...
BOB SITZE has filled the many years of his lifework in diverse settings around the United States. His calling has included careers as a teacher/principal, church musician, writer/author, denominational executive staff member and meat worker. Bob lives in Wheaton, IL.