I’m not sure how to explain what I’ve been wrestling with today. It started when I went to Jon Acuff’s blog and saw that he got 163 comments for a post where he talks about loving to hear people pray with a British accent. There’s definitely some envy going on (I’ve never had more than a handful of comments on any of my posts), but I really think something else is getting under my skin. It’s similar to the cringe... Read more
Apparently there have been a number of photos circulating the Internet in which people hold posters that say why they are or aren’t part of “the 99%” represented by the Occupy Wall Street movement. I just discovered this phenomenon last night. The pro-99% posters typically sound something like this: “I’m a single mom with five kids who works 80 hours a week and pays $20,000 a year for childcare. I am the 99%.” The anti-99% posters typically sound like: “I... Read more
Apparently there have been a number of photos circulating the Internet in which people hold posters that say why they are or aren’t part of “the 99%” represented by the Occupy Wall Street movement. I just discovered this phenomenon last night. The pro-99% posters typically sound something like this: “I’m a single mom with five kids who works 80 hours a week and pays $20,000 a year for childcare. I am the 99%.” The anti-99% posters typically sound like: “I... Read more
Sermon preached 10/22/2011 at Burke UMC LifeSign contemporary service Text: Matthew 13:1-9 (more…) Read more
“I am the vine and you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 We meditated on this quotation from Jesus yesterday at our Virginia Methodist provisional clergy mentor covenant group retreat. On the side, I have been reading Eastern Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas’ Being and Communion, which has caused me to see the implications of Jesus’ statement in a completely new... Read more
I’ve been reading Thomas Merton’s No Man is an Island. The fourth chapter called “Pure Intention” talks about how doing God’s will is actually doing what we really want to do as opposed to settling for what we think we want. This is because God is the source of our being as opposed to being just another being in the universe. I wanted to share some reflections on Merton’s insights to point a way beyond the never-ending theological debates between... Read more
Sermon preached on 10/15-16/2011 Two texts: Ezekiel 37:1-14, Matthew 20:1-16 I spent a week last summer on the ranch of my wife’s cousin near Bastrop, Texas. Having grown up in Texas, I’m used to hot weather in the summer time. But I’ve never experienced heat in Texas like this summer. The air was hot even after the sun went down. We tried to stay inside most of the day, but one morning my boys wanted to learn how to ride... Read more
As I was reading the scripture for my sermon in church this evening, a dimension of the text jumped out at me that I hadn’t zeroed in before. The text is the parable of the workers in the vineyard: Matthew 20:1-16. If you’re unfamiliar, in this parable, Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven as being like a landowner who hires a bunch of workers, some at 6 am, others at 9 am, and still others at noon, 3 pm, and... Read more
Mark Driscoll created another controversy recently in a sermon when he told his listeners that God hates some of them. Some of you, God hates you. Some of you, God is sick of you. God is frustrated with you. God is wearied by you. God has suffered long enough with you. He doesn’t think you’re cute. He doesn’t think it’s funny. He doesn’t think your excuse is “meritous.”. He doesn’t care if you compare yourself to someone worse than you,... Read more
“If you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself.” Thus says Herman Cain to the unemployed Wall Street protestors. I understand why he said it. He wants to live in a world where the American Dream works, where being optimistic and entrepreneurial and hard-working guarantees success. Cain wants for blame to be something that is distributed neatly and perfectly between individual people. This could be described as an ethic of individual responsibility. (more…) Read more
Mercy Not Sacrifice
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In