The Busy (c) 2003 Randy S. Woodley

The busy, dizzy bustle in this lonely, lonely world. Traffic moving forward. People moving back. More lights—the world’s a brighter place but look… Progressing dimness here in my soul. Hide the dimness—up the lights. Yell, at this world—yell at myself. Float my deepest feelings on national air waves Alone, I stay in the shallows. The [...]

#SKEPTIMERGENT: why NOT “church”?

I’m reconsidering a positive use of the word “church.” I have my criticisms, but I seem to be one of a very small number of people who are so allergic to it, at least in the worlds that I live in. Recently, a few of us started a new Emergent cohort here in Raleigh, NC, [...]

Poetry: American Sons by Randy Woodley

Today, I’m posting about the American enterprise of war but really more about how precious is each person’s life and the cost of war to our humanity. “American Sons” is the poem. I apologize to all women because our daughters are now being sent to the front lines but when I wrote this poem, it [...]

Poetry : Randy Woodley, The Haunting (A Tribute to Richard Twiss)

Richard, Randy, Terry, Jeanine, Asbury

Over the next several months I will be posting some of my poetry every Wednesday. Why? I feel like too many words are going out all around us with too little credence given them. It is difficult to hear through too many words, which often excuses us from doing. Sometimes a song or a poem [...]

#SKEPTIMERGENT: the atheist’s dilemma

I would guess that most people who have grown up and stayed in churches do not know what it’s like for many to leave. Please, if you are a person who has been in the church for your entire life, please take some time to read the stories of people who have left. And read about how [...]

Return to a Theology of Normalcy or the Same Old Homogenous Imperialism? By Randy S. Woodley

It is coming….the signs of restored racism in our society are beginning to show… Increased hate crimes, record gun sales, White Male Supremacy is definitely on the rebound! It was precipitated by the organized resistance to the first Black President, (think Tea Party and the hijacking of the Republican led House). The Tea Party and [...]

May Christmas be Filled with Mouse Poop and Camel Spit By Randy S. Woodley

StainedGlassNativity

In this cynical and snarky world in which we live, we are getting pretty good at diagnosing the problems in the world, sometimes even to the point of paralysis. We blog about them, we read about them, (many Christians today would like to read themselves into Heaven),we discuss what’s wrong with the world and we [...]

Finding Current Meaning In Jesus’ Birth (Part 1) By Randy Woodley

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It Was A Night Around Christmas The meaning of this poem will be reflected in Part 2 in two weeks. (Spoken to the cadence of “T’was The Night Before Christmas”)               It was a night around Christmas, in a crowded old cave With camels and horses and cattle she [...]

Heal Me: Why Tommy and the White Western Colonial Church? By Randy Woodley

I began this conversation I called, See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me as a challenge to the colonial Western Church to be more inclusive of ethnic minorities at all levels. Here are titles of the prior post: Intro to Series See Me Feel Me Touch Me This series has taken quite a turn [...]

THE SHOE FETISH: THE EVIL OF ALTRUISM

there was a woman who had a shoe fetish. no matter what, she had to have shoes. couldn’t do without them. according to karl marx, the fetish is creating meaning or giving meaning to a meaningless object. trying to fill in a gap rather than allowing it to be. we live in a society built [...]