Je Suis Charlie? what would Jesus do? exploring some slogans a little further

January 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment
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in our social media age slogans with punch spread fast. following the  events in Paris earlier this month it is not surprising that 'Je Suis Charlie' has been much used in solidarity with the cartoonists at satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo gunned down by Islamic fighters on account of their portrayals of Mohammed. Many of my Christian friends still have as their Facebook image the sign for a Christian used by ISIS to identify houses lived in by Christians before they are forced to pay t … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Authority, Cartoons, Community, Culture, Events, Islam, politics Tagged With: , Leave a Comment

Let’s Talk About Race

January 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment
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This week at my church, Solomon's Porch, while our usual master of ceremonies, Doug Pagitt, is out of town for the Christianity 21 Conference, I will be hosting the sermon time conversation. Actually I will be co-hosting the conversation with my friend Victor, who is one of the only black men in our community. And we're going to talk about race.Church continues to be one of the most segregated spaces in our culture. And my church is no exception. How does a predominantly white church go about … [Read more...]

Filed Under: church, Community, Culture, emerging church, Justice, Kingdom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

The Wall of Love at the Gay Christian Network Conference

January 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
"God Loves Figs" sign from the GCN "wall of love"

For the last few days I’ve been in Portland, Oregon attending the Gay Christian Network Conference.I took a small shuttle bus from my hotel to the convention center Saturday morning.  I’d been walking those few blocks every day; but it was raining, and the driver was standing right there when I came outside. “Hey, wanna ride over there this morning?” he asked.Four of us climbed in. Said hello to each other as we pulled away.It was only a short ride to the convention center, a minute o … [Read more...]

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Beyond Words: A Critical Response to the Non-Indictment Decisions

December 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Ferguson

Isaiah 64:1-9  O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those … [Read more...]

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God Chooses the unexpected

December 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment

She turned out not to be one of the bookies favourites, indeed no-one had heard of her. She wasn’t someone glamourous or famous from the capital city who was chosen, but a very ordinary woman from an obscure northern town. Well I’m talking about Mary the mother of Jesus who turned out to be the mother of the long awaited Messiah, but I could have also been talking about the Revd Libby Lane, the person who is about to become the first female Bishop in the Church of Eng … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christian Year, Christmas, church, Culture, Personal Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment

Be the Sign

December 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
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These are the days. Natalie Merchant came on over the radio as we sat and sipped wine in the brightly lit kitchen that first night. Ministers gone wild is what Jim, one of our hosts, would call the weekend as his wife, Heidi filled up our glasses. Conversations about raising kids and remembering the first week in the church and then lamenting at the exhaustion and hearing how that does change a little when the kids go to school. When they go to college?!?!? I shrieked, thinking, there’s no way I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture, politics Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment

‘Tis the Season for Gift Giving

December 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
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Whether it’s Hanukkah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa that you observe, the season of gift giving is upon us. The joy of giving and receiving gifts is often in conflict with the stress of gift giving – the financial stress and consumerism of buying gifts, the emotional stress of choosing gifts, and the time stress of making gifts or creating gift experiences. We preach that it’s the thought that counts and not the gift itself, but the culture via advertising makes us unsure of that truism. A famous stor … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, Culture, emerging church, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Chasing the ‘Christian vote’

November 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
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November saw the mid-term elections in the US and the Rochester by-election here in the UK. in both cases the subject of Christian voting has surfaced. This is no surprise in the US, the Christian vote has been a factor for a while and this has been highly organised when it comes to a right wing agenda through groups like the moral majority or more recently the Tea Party movement. So analysis by organisations like Reuters … [Read more...]

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An Interstellar God

November 14, 2014 by Leave a Comment
stars

Yes, I am unashamedly referencing the movie, but that's because I can't get it out of my head. I have always been a fan of space. I love sci-fi. I love planets and stars, supernovas and galaxies. I love the images, the imaginations, the hope of people who long to see what is beyond the rock we call home. Interstellar is an amazing display of what those things could be like and I found it breathtaking.Even though people are arguing over whether the movie is good or not, and are analyzing the … [Read more...]

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Two Evangelical Christian Presentations on LGBTQ Issues

November 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
All Are Welcome

Last weekend an important gathering,  the Reformation Project’s 2014 Regional Training Conference,  was held in Washington D.C.  The Reformation Project is Matthew Vines’s organization that advocates for LGBTQ equality in evangelical Christianity.  Though I was unable to attend, a few of my friends were there and enjoyed a number of impressive presentations.Two of these presentations are now available on the web, and I’d like to bring them to your attention.  I think you’ll find both of them … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture Tagged With: , , , , Leave a Comment

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