2014-07-17T13:58:35-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 1:58 pm   By

A group of nuns called the Little Sisters of the Poor are in the news lately because of their lawsuit against the federal government for having to sign a form that certifies their religious-based exemption to providing contraceptive health coverage for their employees. They claim their religious freedom is violated even though they are not being asked to pay for birth control because admitting in writing that they oppose it means that somebody else would theoretically provide the coverage even... Read more

2014-07-17T13:58:35-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 1:58 pm   By

The past several years of my life have been building up to a three and a half hour stretch of time this morning from 8:30 am to 12:00 pm: my interviews for full ordination as a United Methodist elder. I have anticipated this moment with dread, paranoid about getting torpedoed by someone with a chip on their shoulders over one of my blog posts. What actually happened was I sat in a room with human beings who love God, who... Read more

2014-07-17T13:58:36-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 1:58 pm   By

A week ago Sunday evening, we looked at the story of Adam and Eve as part of our LifeSign Wrestling sermon series. After listening to Billy Joel’s “We didn’t start the fire,” we looked at several elements of the curse of sin in our world depicted allegorically through the story of Adam and Eve. They ate the fruit because they wanted to play God. As a result, they saw that they were naked and became ashamed. This meant that the... Read more

2014-07-17T13:58:37-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 1:58 pm   By

Last Sunday morning, I preached on Jesus’ statement “I am the bread of life.” I looked at the three things that we gain from feasting on Jesus, which happen to be three words that we have for the sacred meal that we share as Christians: communion with God and each other, a life of eucharist (thanksgiving) and worship, and a sacramental appreciation of God’s transcendent fingerprints in all of creation. Please subscribe to the podcast if you want to get... Read more

2014-07-17T13:59:17-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 1:59 pm   By

I’ve been reading an interview with outspoken atheist comedian Bill Maher in the Atlantic. The interviewer asked him a question about God and his answer was intriguing to me. The question was along the lines of Pascal’s Wager: “What if you’re wrong and you’re dooming yourself to hell? Do you ever worry about that?” Here is Maher’s response: (more…) Read more

2014-07-17T13:59:17-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 1:59 pm   By

There are few things that make me smack my head more than the idea that Adam and Eve’s bite into an apple caused all of the decay and disease that exists in the world. I’ve written before that I believe the “death” that came to Adam and Eve (who are allegorical characters representing the human race) which Paul describes in Romans 5:12-13 is the death of innocence, not physical death as such. If you’re going to say that physical death... Read more

2014-07-17T13:59:18-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 1:59 pm   By

In the blogosphere, the key to building a platform is to make other people think your platform is bigger than it really is. Because people don’t want to read your stuff unless you’re already popular. What this means is you have to figure out ways to create hype and buzz about yourself. But particularly if you’re in the Christian blogosphere like I am, you don’t want to do it in a way that looks arrogant. So that’s become the source... Read more

2014-07-17T13:59:18-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 1:59 pm   By

A woman from my church gave me a bunch of spiritual books because she was downsizing, including an old Henri Nouwen book about prayer called With Open Hands. Yesterday, I read this book by Lake Accotink since we had the only fifty degree day we’re going to have for the rest of January. I underlined some quotes that I wanted to share on my blog. (more…) Read more

2014-07-17T13:59:19-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 1:59 pm   By

For Martin Luther King Day, I wanted to consider a very challenging quote from black liberation theologian James Cone: “When whites undergo the true experience of conversion wherein they die to whiteness and are reborn anew in order to struggle against white oppression and for the liberation of the oppressed, there is a place for them in the black struggle of freedom.” When Cone talks about whiteness, he’s not talking literally about the color of our skin. He’s talking about... Read more

2014-07-17T13:59:19-05:00

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 1:59 pm   By

I’ve been reading two books recently that have me really wondering what to do with the Old Testament: RC Sproul’s The Holiness of God and Richard Beck’s Unclean. Sproul’s book uses some of the most troubling Old Testament depictions of God to define God’s holiness since holiness has to do with God’s otherness and incomprehensibility. Beck talks about the way that the ethics of mercy and sacrifice pull in opposite directions. The God depicted by the prophets seems to care... Read more

Follow Us!
OTHER RELATED CONTENT
1
The Loneliest Woman in Mississippi: Lisa...
Jeff Hood
2
The Biblist: 10 Surprises About the...
Close to Home
3
Two Prayers, Two Americas: Which One...
FreedHearts
4
Pope Francis' Legacy: To Marginalized, He...
The Latin Right
Browse Our Archives
TRENDING AT PATHEOS Progressive Christian
LBCF: Dogs and cats sleeping together
INNER CIRCLE: Resurrection Life
Disabilities and Narratives of Inclusion and Accessiblity
Comparing Notions of Experience
Wanting to Be Healed
Daddy, why is there God? (Series 1 of...
view all Progressive Christian blogs