We live in turbulent times. Perhaps people always have. Nowadays, people are in conflict with each other in many parts of the world, and that’s true in America, as well. The divisions and hostilities between Americans are worse than they’ve been in centuries. And, like other parts of the world, religion seems to be at the heart of the divisions. Altogether too many Americans are using their versions of Christianity to divide and to show hostility to others, fully convinced that’s what Jesus, what God, wants them to do.
Jesus came along for a number of reasons. One was to bring harmony between us humans and our Creator. Another was to bring harmony into people’s relations with others. In the process, Jesus came to show and tell people how to live. What he taught wasn’t complicated. I’m not saying it was easy, just uncomplicated. From the very beginning, though, religious people have tried to make it more complicated than it was intended, and have either tried to use Jesus as someone to gain power from or to use against others. Jesus’ words have often been twisted or added to for personal gain.
That’s true in America, right now, as much as ever. Jesus’s words and actions are being distorted and some people are using their version of Jesus to get their way. This blog is meant to cut through the turbulence to try to see the world through Jesus’s eyes. This Christ-App blog is intended to speak wisdom to calamity, in an age torn by strife, and guidance to people sometimes overwhelmed by crisis and conflict.
My name is Phil Tierney. Raised in the Roman Catholic Church, I was baptized in 1950. A devout kid, I prayed every night and attended Mass every Sunday and daily during Lent. I was educated at a parochial elementary school and earned the Ad Altare Dei medal from the Boy Scouts of America. During my adolescence, I turned away from God for several years only to undergo an Evangelical conversion accompanied by the charismatic infilling of the Holy Spirit 56 years ago. One day, I heard a voice in my mind that said, “I want you to minister.” I thought I might be crazy.
So, since I knew that people can deceive themselves, I spent the next six years testing that call. I studied at an Evangelical Christian college, where I earned a degree in Biblical and Theological Studies. While there, I was called upon to serve as student body chaplain and elected president of the student body in my senior year. After graduation, I did advanced biblical studies at an Evangelical seminary. After serving as a lay missionary in Canada, I studied in England to earn a post-graduate degree in Pastoral Studies before returning to the States to complete a Master in Divinity degree at an Episcopal seminary, and to study for a doctorate in Pastoral Psychotherapy. I was ordained an Episcopal priest. I have served in ministries in the United States, Canada, Britain and Costa Rica. I served as an Episcopal chaplain at two universities, and have served as senior pastor of churches in five states.
CHRIST-APP by philtierneyblog 