Opinion

The brilliant composer and musician Mozart once said, “I can tell a good musician by the way he plays the rests.” What an amazing insight. Mozart knew that the rests are what give the composition structure. The rests give us the space to enjoy the delightful sounds of the musical selection. Perhaps this is true for all of life. Maybe we are all known by how well we play the rests.

Many people with mental illnesses don’t exactly know how to relate to others or whom to trust, but everyone needs friends and people who care for them. Such a friendship can be like any other and includes sharing of personal information by both parties and, as the friendship develops, a sharing of feeling, hurts and whatever. A mental health condition need not be the focal point of the relationship. After all, none of us is perfect. We all have our “disorders.”

Jesus identified mourning as a blessing because when we mourn the death of our loved one, God will make sure we are comforted. God uses fellow believers as comforters to those who are mourning.

When I read that ethicist Glen Stassen had died, I immediately thought: "A mighty oak has fallen." But Stassen's work will continue to inform Christian ethics and, subsequently, the world. Now it is time for those rigorously schooled by him to continue his influence and do what he did -- pass along the passion for tackling the tough issues and do the hard work that even Christians often avoid.

The only cure for hate is a changed heart. That doesn’t necessarily happen in a court of law or behind bars. In the case of Frazier Glenn Cross, deeply embedded hate at a young age has resulted in a wasted life and flowered into a premeditated rage. For him, hate finally grew to its logical conclusion. A person rarely controls hate. Rather, hate controls that person.

Your church has started a ministry that meets needs and creates opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ. The ministry’s future is bright and is positioned to grow. The challenge standing in the way is how to fund its future.

Easter reminds us that one of the most effective ways to influence others for Christ is simply to tell the story of redemption and what the Son of God means to us, what he has done for us and especially the relationship with Christ that awaits anyone willing to trust him.

We have all had, or need to have, difficult conversations. An email that offended or troubled us, a blow-up at a family dinner, a situation at work that is unbearable, a church feud that is spilling out into the community or friction within a house between spouses or siblings — the examples are endless.

The news that Fred Phelps, the 84-year-old founder of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., has died drew predictable reactions from just about everyone, from anger, to glee to relief. Phelps and the congregation, which includes most of his many children and their children, have become best known for protests arising out of their disgust of homosexual behavior and their hatred for every gay.

We have all had, or need to have, difficult conversations. An email that offended or troubled us, a blow-up at a family dinner, a situation at work that is unbearable, a church feud that is spilling out into the community or friction within a house between spouses or siblings — the examples are endless.