Prairie Pastoral

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

  • Home
  • Bio
  • Books I’m Reading
  • Good Stuff

May 10, 2023 | 1 Comment

The Spiritual Gift of Suspicion

You may have heard these before: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpreting tongues. These are the spiritual gifts (or at least the ones listed in 1 Corinthians). 

Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine in Suspicion (1941)Add exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, prophecy (again), service, and teaching (from Romans); apostleship, evangelism, the pastorate, prophecy (yes, again), and teaching (from Ephesians); and the sometimes uncomfortable gifts some scholars include like celibacy, hospitality, martyrdom, missions, and poverty. 

Healing sounds great. Martyrdom, not so much. Nevertheless, they are all gifts from God.

Yet, I want to offer the modest proposal of a subcategory of spiritual gifts. I want to add the spiritual gift of suspicion. Hear me out. [Read more…]

Deception, Discernment, Sin, Spiritual gifts, Spiritual maturity Tagged: discernment, fraud, guilt, spiritual gifts, suspicion, trust


May 3, 2019 | Leave a Comment

How to leave a church

Some years ago. I bumped into a woman who had been attending our Sunday morning worship for over a year. She’d been active in adult education, and I’d been touched when she brought me a small vase at my family’s Christmas open house. I considered her part of the church family.

On the day I bumped into her, though, it had been several weeks since we’d seen her.

“Hey,” I said, “We’ve missed you at church.”

“Oh,” she replied. “I don’t go to your church anymore.”

Pause for my stunned silence. [Read more…]

Church, Criticism, Deception, Leadership, Trust Tagged: leaving church, self-examination


November 17, 2015 | Leave a Comment

Blind

It’s a Tuesday and an unexpected day at home due to an early power outage. My schoolteacher husband is here along with my kids, so “working” from home is, well, a challenge.

I rouse my family for lunch and then declare it tidy-time, i.e. pick-up-your-dirty-socks time, and I volunteer to clean the kitchen. By the time I’m finishing, I feel some pressure to get back to “work”—Christmas is coming, after all.

“All done,” I declare to myself with satisfaction, until my daughter wanders through the room. [Read more…]

Deception, Fear, God, Prayer Tagged: 2 Thessalonians, daughter, mistakes


This is the day that
the Lord has made;
let us rejoice
and be glad in it.

– Psalm 118:24
Rev. Dr. MJ Romano

Categories

  • Adoption
  • Advent
  • Angels
  • Bible
  • Book of Hebrews
  • Christmas
  • Church
  • Confession
  • Conscience
  • Courage
  • Criticism
  • Death
  • Deception
  • Discernment
  • Discipleship
  • Evangelism
  • Expectation
  • Family
  • Fear
  • Frustration
  • God
  • Gospel of John
  • Gospel of Luke
  • Gratitude
  • Hiking
  • Holy Week
  • Hope
  • Jesus Christ
  • Leadership
  • Legacy
  • Lent
  • Marriage
  • Old Testament
  • Parenting
  • Patience
  • Perseverance
  • Praise
  • Prayer
  • Predestination
  • Prophet Isaiah
  • Psalms
  • Racism
  • Remembrance
  • Repentance
  • Rest
  • Sacraments
  • Science
  • Sin
  • Small town
  • Social media
  • Spiritual gifts
  • Spiritual maturity
  • Suffering
  • Teenagers
  • Time
  • Trust
  • Truth
  • Uncategorized

Connect with MJ

Subscribe to Pastor MJ's Blog

Stay up-to-date with the latest posts delivered right to your inbox.

Join 402 other subscribers

Archives

Bible Verse of the Day

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
1 John 4:18
DailyVerses.net
LaJunta Presbyterian Church

Copyright © 2023 Rev. Dr. MJ Romano · Site design and setup by The Design Diva · Log in