If you ever want to see me at my passive-aggressive rebellious best, make me believe you are wasting my time. Make an appointment but don’t show up, you are on my list. Extend a meeting with inanities, I will either walk out or call a point to close the meeting. I am definitely peevish about time. Preacher, please say it once and I’ve got it. I don’t how I developed this attitude. Perhaps, it was the feeling that jobs that... Read more
The absolute worst example of discipleship is the angry Christian. I am tempted to just leave that statement there and move along with the day. I won’t do that because it is too easy. I meet an angry Christian every week. This person usually comes in two kinds and both types justify their being angry and often abusive. The first type believes the world is going the wrong way. The other kind believes he or she is being shoved around... Read more
There is a true difference between Potestants and Fundamentalists. Control is the objective of all religious fundamentalisms. Whereas Protestantism is about freedom of Christian conscience before God. Fundamentalism defines Christians as only those who hold onto every point that is considered essential Christian doctrine. Protestants define Christians as those who wish to follow Jesus. One is open. One is not. It really is very simple. Now I am ready to discuss what it means for a Protestant to call out... Read more
Pastor’s grieve. It is the least acknowledged aspect of pastoral ministry. Neither the clergy nor the laity really say much about it. Our training leads us to deny our own grief even while we help others through their own. It is the hardest aspect of pastoral ministry. It can be a beloved church member who dies. The pastor grieves for a partner in ministry in the church. Or the pastor may grieve over the death of someone whom he or... Read more
I have finally found the answer to why people do not attend church “like they used to.” It is an elegantly simple answer. They don’t have to. Really, that is the answer. Why should someone go to the effort to try and work within a church community that does not want anything to happen except certain approved/required activities? Why should anyone attempt to reach the world with the good news of Jesus Christ while the church is more concerned with the light... Read more
It is understandable during the present era for people to change churches and whole denominations without so much as a glance from someone else. If a person prefers attending a new church rather than the one in which he or she has been brought up, then there is little or no controversy. After all church membership and attendance are matters of personal preference today. This attitude changes to some degree if one’s new church differs significantly in religious practice or theological... Read more
No one in his or her right mind wants my job. That is why only the called ones should do it. We clergy types are the true rebels. We are counter-cultural. If the culture wants to ignore the needs of those who are truly in need, we step in to help. If the culture preachers that salvation is found in social approval, we preach salvation is by the grace of God. If the culture claims God is only alive when... Read more
I have often been critical of the doctrine of original sin. The chief problem with this doctrine is that it makes the whole concept of sin and redemption a closed loop or a rigged game. The second real problem with the doctrine is that while St. Paul is often quoted to support it the doctrine does not get its’ full expression until the time of St. Augustine of Hippo. My second look today has to do with taking the doctrine... Read more
While many of you who know me personally know that most of the times when I speak about Pope Benedict the 16th, I usually speak criticism of some kind. I often try to be diplomatic about it. Some times I make jokes. Other times I am very critical. As a mainline protestant pastor, Josef Ratzinger was never my favorite theologian. And so the often benign quips, “joey the rat,” “papa ratzi,” and “the red baron” were used to describe him... Read more
Most Christians in the United States have heard of so-called “honor killings” in the muslim world. If you haven’t, let me give you the basic idea. A young unmarried woman either has sex with a man or is raped by a man. In either case she is considered immoral and socially damaged. The stigma is also cast onto her family. Her father (or possibly a brother) decides to restore the family honor by killing the young woman. This death penalty can... Read more
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