Ok, America – Let’s Talk Politics
I need to vent. I had a much longer draft on this post-debate, but then Saturday’s shooting happened. Someone was murdered because of our politics, and it could have been…
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Rediscovering the Matriarch: Sarah’s Legacy
We humans love simplicity. We reduce intricate complexities to black and white, ignoring the intricate complexities of nature and reducing the supernatural to a set of rules that would make a great board game. We do the same thing with the Bible - we paint over the whole with whatever flavor we wish to taste. The joint nature of Abraham's blessing often escapes notice. We often let Sarah play a background role in Abraham's story. But God didn't relegate her to the sidelines. He told Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her" (Genesis 17:15-16). The promise was for both. Also, God told Abraham that he could not call him "my" princess anymore. She is a princess, with or without Abraham.
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An Evangelical Intervention: When Patriotism Becomes Idolatry
There's a dissonance, a discordant note that cannot be ignored. It's skewed, and ripe for manipulation and exploitation. Perhaps it feels comfortable, a familiar battle cry that resonates within your echo chambers. But if it incites anger and shuts down genuine dialogue, if it echoes the same primal sins that have plagued humanity since Cain and Abel, then it's demonstrably not the Gospel Jesus preached.It's precisely this distorted gospel that's hemorrhaging members from churches across the nation. It's the reason a new generation, the "Exvangelicals" and "Deconstructionists" you readily dismiss, are walking away. They're the fruit of a poisonous tree, a movement born out of disillusionment and a desperate yearning for authenticity. They are a living testament to the corrosive effects of a gospel that has lost its way.
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Beyond John 3:16: The Serpent In Redemption
John 3:16 often feels like a cliché, plastered on billboards and game signs, stripped of its profound meaning. But let's shift our focus to the verses just before it, where Jesus draws a parallel between Himself and the serpent Moses lifted in the wilderness. This imagery is not just historical or theological; it’s deeply personal. We, like the Israelites, grumble and turn against each other, becoming snakes in our impatience and selfishness. The serpent on the pole wasn’t just a divine solution; it was a mirror, forcing them to confront their sin and shame. Similarly, when we look at Jesus lifted on the cross, we’re invited to face our darkest selves, recognize our capacity for both harm and good, and embrace the transformative power of love and redemption.
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From Honesty To Heresy:Rethinking What We Hold Certain
For years, I felt like a fraud, an imposter. It's something psychological like many people experience. I was a pastor, but deep down, my own beliefs were at odds with the doctrines I preached. I had a self-destructive habit of preventing myself from being fully authentic. I wasn't healthy. Leading a church terrified me. This internal conflict eventually led to a breakdown, and it took a rock bottom to force me to confront my fears and the issues within the church itself. I'm not the only one. It's amazing what a simple shift in perspective can do…eh, church?
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Love Thy Neighbor, Not Thy Cause:Examining The Rainbow’s Genesis
PRIDE Month is that time of year when rainbow flags are everywhere. On the interwebs, repeated posts from our Christian brothers and sisters appeared discussing the merits of LGBTQ’s choice…
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A Widow’s Two Mites on Perspective & End Times
We may be tempted to embellish the story or to assume we know how it ends. Neither Mark nor Luke lets us have the pleasure. Once Jesus talks about her, she doesn't show up again. Jesus doesn't say that her rent will be provided, will have food the next day, or that her unspoken health condition will be healed. There is no promise. A poor widow, in that time and society, gave the last coins she had and left with no answers.
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Jacob’s Legacy: Fatherhood, Faith, And Forgiveness
Jacob's family has drama and issues. We can forget that these stories are about humans and that it was messy and not so cleanly scripted as we read them. Jacob was selfish and his family was a crap show. When his favorite son falls prey to the children Jacob fathered, Jacob's lifelong pursuit has born its fruit. He now swam in the wake of the mess he made.
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Avoiding Change: Why We Don’t Believe People Can
In a last post on faith, I mentioned that I love Ted Lasso. Allow me to show some more of that love. In the previous seasons, Roy Kent, a quiet,…
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Egongelicalism #1: The Clash of Ego in Evangelicalism
The work of creating an image of myself who already exists, the work of trying to push that up and out while keeping the real me hidden and safe inside, and the work of dealing with communication breakdowns so I can filter Reality for the sake of my Ego is exhausting and unsustainable. From Genesis 1-3 through the Gospels and to Revelation, Ego is humanity’s issue. Jesus's Gospel was clearly an invitation to kill our egos and do the opposite—love.
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