I have started leading a Wednesday morning Bible study in Spanish at the Lamb Center, a homeless drop-in center in Fairfax, VA. We have been going through the book of Ephesians since it’s fairly short and super-rich theologically. It’s very interesting to lead a Bible study in a different language where I understand about half of what is being said by the other participants. They’ve been very talkative, which is awesome, but they’ll sometimes share long personal stories that I... Read more
Psalm 119:65-72 65 Do good to your servant according to your word, LORD. 66 Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. (more…) Read more
I know that I got under some people’s skin for beefing with Dave Ramsey on Red Letter Christians. I’ve never been in debt. If I had and some guy’s videos helped me out of it, I would be hurt if some random cocky young blogger was hating on my hero. So I wanted to try to explain where I’m coming from and why I felt compelled to speak out. (more…) Read more
Sermon preached at Burke UMC, 7/30-31/2011 Text: Genesis 29:15-31 It was the morning after her wedding night, and Leah had never felt so alone. She remembered the day seven years ago when her sister told her about the new cousin Jacob who had come into town. She remembered her father’s whisper to her, “This is your chance.” Leah was the eldest. She was the one who was supposed to get married first. But the clock had been ticking and no... Read more
Psalm 119:57-64 You are my portion, LORD; I have promised to obey your words. I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. (more…) Read more
I’ve often been cynical about American exceptionalism. Especially on days when I walk into Barnes and Nobles and see the political bestsellers on display in the front of the store. Americans are exceptional? Really? Exceptionally tacky? Exceptionally self-righteous? Exceptionally deaf to opinions outside of our own echo chamber? Exceptionally good at building an industry off of paranoid hate and conspiracy theories? One of the most exceptional Americans I know about, Mark Twain, famously said that “patriotism is the refuge of... Read more
Psalm 119:49-56 Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. This is my comfort in my distress, that your promise gives me life. (more…) Read more
I often tell people that fundamentalists and liberals frustrate me about equally. I just read an article by a United Methodist pastor named Martin Thielen in Christian Century on his church’s successful “mainline” marketing plan. Basically he did a sermon series that turned into a book called What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian? A good friend in our church is reading it, and my wife told me I shouldn’t judge a book by its title,... Read more
Today I watched Dave Ramsey’s Great Recovery video. I think I feel something akin to what the Calvinist bloggers felt when they saw the trailer for Rob Bell’s Love Wins. I’m physically sick at my stomach. Whenever I’ve ranted about the self-worship of American middle-class evangelicalism in the past, I always thought in the back of my head that I was attacking a straw man. Well I met the straw man today; and he’s a real person and very much... Read more
Sermon preached on 7/23/2011 at Burke UMC Lifesign service Text: Genesis 27-28 (Jacob’s ladder with back-story of stealing blessing from Esau) [Note: The motif for this sermon was inspired by this video that we saw at a Virginia conference provisional elders’ retreat. I showed the video before preaching the sermon so watch it before reading. It’s hilarious and the sermon might not make sense without it.] Everything was falling into place. Jacob’s life was like an escalator going up to... Read more
Mercy Not Sacrifice
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