I was molested at an overnight lock-in for my church basketball team by the most conservative Sunday school teacher I ever had. For almost three decades, this truth was buried deep inside of me while I burned with a visceral rage that I didn’t understand. For a long time, I hated all men who reminded me of my abuser. I’ve tried to repent of that hate now that I’ve realized more fully why it’s there. It seems to be a long... Read more
The more connected Christians become with Jesus, the more their hearts will burn with empathy for other people. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they get nicer. When you love people, you burn with wrath against their abusers and mockers. Jesus wasn’t nice to people. He was fiercely protective of the people he loved and brutally vicious against those who attacked them. Right now, there are many sincere Christians in our country who have very different understandings of whom they are... Read more
So apparently this meme has been circulating some circles on the internet: stand for the flag; kneel for the cross. It’s a way of criticizing the black football players who have been kneeling during the national anthem and trying to bring the mantle of Christianity into the debate. But what religion does the meme actually describe? Apart from the presence of a cross which has been completely abstracted from its theological context, there’s nothing in this picture that resembles anything... Read more
Prayer is always primarily about the transformation of the one doing it. Read more
My friend Canela Lopez recently co-authored an article in the Tulane Hullabaloo about the out-of-control drinking culture at Tulane, which has drawn attention due to the Princeton Review’s ranking of Tulane as the #1 party school in the nation. The article described Tulane’s response to the drinking culture as being defined by a search for “new ways of educating students about the effects of risky consumption.” Seeing alcoholism as the product of a lack of education is about as psychologically astute... Read more
Today I’m sharing a guest post from a Tulane student named Cassidy Oberleitner who is starting a new social media initiative called the #RawMovement to help her fellow students unmask themselves and talk about their spiritual and mental health struggles openly. It’s modeled after the Humans of New York initiative and it seems really cool so far. And don’t worry: the people in the promotional photos are not naked; they’re wearing clothes! Please offer some encouragement in the comments for... Read more
1. 85 people have come to NOLA Wesley this year! We have had 85 people in the building for NOLA Wesley events this year, not including attendance for our open mic, which is our biggest draw but hard to record individual attendance for. 43 people have been to 2 or more events, and 34 people have been to 3 or more events. Out of these 85 people, 49 have been freshmen! 2. We launched a freshman small group! For the... Read more
The gift that Trump has given to American Christians is to reveal what is at stake in our nationalist idolatry. Read more
Since I’m forty today, I wanted to share forty Bible verses that are meaningful to me and some reflections on them. 1. “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good.” Genesis 1:31 God has never stopped creating and everything God creates is good. Original sin does not mean that Genesis 1 stopped happening after Eve bit into the apple. God keeps creating beautiful creatures; we keep falling into sin; and God keeps redeeming and restoring... Read more
Jeff Hood is a long-time death penalty activist operating in the Dallas-Forth Worth area. He’s written a number of books, the latest of which is The Execution of God, a creative theological exploration of how God is present on death row. So I wanted to catch up with Jeff about his new book and his thinking about death penalty. He has a very provocative way of talking about God’s presence in the humanity of condemned prisoners. MG: Hey Jeff, thanks... Read more
Mercy Not Sacrifice
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