We’re starting a sermon series this weekend called “Spiritual not religious.” I’ve been a little bit sheepish to share this on my blog, since it’s about as cool in Christian circles as being a Vanilla Ice fan in 1994. Hating on “spiritual but not religious” people is obligatory in the Christian blogosphere. I’ve done it; everyone has. But I thought about trying a different approach. I googled the phrase “I am spiritual but not religious” and a site came up... Read more
Isaiah 61 was the Daily Office Old Testament reading for today. Some of you will recall that Jesus read this text as part of his first sermon in Nazareth in Luke 4. The first two verses read: “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim... Read more
Our youth pastor invited me today to talk about atonement with our confirmation class. As you know, I am very passionate about offering a better explanation than the Four Spiritual Laws of how Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection reconcile us to God. I’m not very good at turning confirmation lessons into silly activities with cotton balls and papier mache. So what I offered them was pretty simple: a single sheet of paper with a brief description of Jesus’ life, death, and... Read more
The Church of England decided this week to allow gay men who are in civil partnerships to become bishops as long as they take an oath of celibacy. The evangelical Anglicans were up in arms about this and there were a lot of spirited comments on the article from people whose caps-lock key appeared to be stuck. It does raise a very interesting question of where the lines are drawn for Christians who are opposed to homosexuality. (more…) Read more
This is kind of an open question to my readers. I got called out a little bit for yesterday’s rant about Christian celebrity in which I laid out pretty volcanically my own struggles with narcissism and probably didn’t differentiate enough between my own baggage and whatever Jon Acuff is or isn’t teaching people. One of the things that caught my eye and troubled me was a comment that I was undermining my credibility as a teacher. So I wanted to... Read more
On the same day that Jon Acuff wrote a self-affirmation about his success as a Christian celebrity, Jeff Dunn at Internet Monk posted his own version of the “purpose-driven life” based on three of Jesus’ commonly preached themes: becoming poor, blind, and dead. It was such a fresh contrast from the kind of self-help drivel that Christians have come to accept as Biblical provided it has a few verses from Proverbs slapped on top. The purpose that we are given... Read more
Today celebrity Christian blogger Jon Acuff posted a note to his “haters,” which I guess would include me. I don’t hate Jon Acuff per se; I’m sure that in person he’s a great guy who’s funny and thoughtful and compassionate. But I do hate what Jon Acuff represents: a Christianity that is divided between groupies and celebrities in which the celebrities become celebrities by writing books for the groupies about how easy it is to be a celebrity if you... Read more
The Daily Office New Testament reading for today, Hebrews 11:1-11, includes a common proof-text for justification by faith in Hebrews 11:6: “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” I was a little surprised by how the sentence finishes out: “For whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Then when I looked at the Greek, I discovered that the Greek word for God, theos, wasn’t even there: χωρὶς δὲ πίστεως... Read more
I tend to be nonplussed as a matter of principle about patriotic piety over dead white guys who define our country’s history like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. But I watched the movie Lincoln this past week and my heart was won over by Daniel Day-Lewis, who portrayed the president. Obviously there is no way to distinguish between the legend and the historical figure, but the legend is compelling. I’ve been trying to put my finger on what made Lincoln... Read more
I’m in a holiday post-partum kind of mood. I made two trance songs about it that don’t have any words. Some of it has to do with the holidays passing too quickly; some of it has to do with feeling generally lost and discouraged with regard to my writing. Making trance music is a lot like blogging about esoteric theological topics. You spend hours and hours honing your craft to produce something that very few people will ever listen to.... Read more
Mercy Not Sacrifice
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