First Bite: The Crossing

Lunch today at The Crossing, the current restaurant in the old Norcross rail station. Used to eat there when it was The Norcross Station. The dark wood inside walls have been  painted white, brightening the place considerably. Fancy menu. Waiter shamed us into getting our burgers only cooked medium, which is much too rare for my tastes. Burger was certainly juicy. A decent burger and the fries were okay.

Brad's dinner sized chicken dish wasn't as big as he's expected. Dennis' sirloin looked good. I hadn't eaten since my big pizza lunch the day before. 

Thought about driving up to Chattanooga this afternoon to see Steve Martin & Martin Short, but that would've been exausting. Instead I attended a seminar on social security - not realizing I had attended the exact same seminar last year. Still educational. Jeff Barnard looks like actor Kris Marshall from Death in Paradise.

Denison's Biblical perspective on the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service, bishop urges "have mercy" - illegal immigration is a complex issue. The Bible says immigrants are to obey the law and customs of the land (Isaiah 56:6–7) and to assimilate into the culture of their host country (Deut 5:14; 16:9–15). They are not to break the law (Prov 6:30–31). The Bible affirms the importance of border security: “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples” (Deut 32:8). The Promised Land’s borders are delineated in Numbers 34:1–15 and Ezekiel 47:13–23. While Scripture calls us to be merciful (Luke 6:36; James 2:13; Matthew 5:7), it also calls us to seek justice and to uphold the rule of law (Isaiah 1:17; Amos 5:24; Prov 21:15), a role that is especially assigned to governmental leaders (Romans 13:1–7).

Rather than challenging the president directly while addressing only one side of the debate, the bishop should have focused on Jesus and invited those in the Cathedral and around the world to personal faith in him. She said the service was intended as a “one-on-one conversation with the president.” But what about everyone else in attendance? Anglican leader David Roseberry said the bishop “closed a door” when she “delivered a lecture—aimed not at the congregation, but at a single member in it. The pulpit became a podium, the sanctuary a platform for ethical and political instruction.” In Roseberry’s view, “The subject of every sermon should always be Jesus Christ.” He believed the bishop’s message “would better have been said in another place at another moment - the sermon was a singular, sacred opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to those in attendance and around the world.”