“He has chosen the lowly things of this world: the despised ones and those who are not, to bring to nothing the things that are” (1 Corinthians 1:28). It isn’t just my heart’s tattoo; I really believe it’s one of the most important prophecies of the Bible. Jesus was the ultimate despised one, a king whose reign is defined precisely by his utter social rejection. When we are truly saved, we become despised ones with Jesus, being “crucified together with... Read more
Sometime in the last couple of weeks, I got wind of the John Howard Yoder sex scandal. Yoder is a hero in the Christian pacifist community and a key influence on Stanley Hauerwas, one of my key theologians. Anyway, Yoder sexually assaulted, harassed, and/or had adulterous relationships with a lot of women. A Mennonite commission was just formed to investigate cover-ups that happened. A whole lot of radical Christians in our Despised Ones bloggers collective have been heavily influenced by... Read more
It’s a total fluke that I’m at #6 on a top Christian blogs list. I kind of feel like that couple that gate-crashed the White House party in 2009. Of course my “success” is probably only due to the fact that I’m loser enough to take something like this seriously and rally the troops. Anyway, because I don’t deserve to be there, I thought the least I could do is give some shout-outs to 25 other bloggers who deserve it... Read more
I imagine that I’ll draw some more trolls who are “concerned” about my lust for fame and glory with this post, but don’t waste your time because I’m moderating my comments now. As some of you know, I got nominated for a top 25 Christian blog list. Because of my amazing readers and friends, I’m currently doing way better than I should be (#11 out of 300+ in the mix), but the big-dog bloggers have fired up their reader bases... Read more
I got concern-trolled on my Jesus juke blog post yesterday by an anonymous commenter who called him/herself a “concerned parishioner.” I think the intent was to make me think it was someone from my church, but people from my church know that I solicit and actually treasure their constructive criticism. I can sometimes be a pretty sarcastic, cynical person, but this person’s sarcasm was dripping like a Niagara Falls of vinegar. And what made me sad was to think of... Read more
I did a funeral today for a woman who was a member of our church but hadn’t been in a number of years because she was a shut-in. Her daughter asked me to focus my funeral homily on talking about why it’s okay to mourn. So the text that came to mind was Psalm 42, because it says, “My tears have been my food.” Can tears be food? That is the question of mourning. My homily is below. (more…) Read more
The phrase “Jesus juke” was originally coined by Jon Acuff in a 2010 post on his blog “Stuff Christians Like.” Jesus jukes are moves that you make in online conversation to showcase your superior Jesus-ness at the expense of other people who have said something, often in banter or jest, that is inadequately theologically correct (or TC for short, the Christian version of PC). Jesus jukes are the 21st century online conversational version of the exhibitionist piety that Jesus calls... Read more
In the American justice system, all defendants are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable shadow of doubt. Defense attorneys do not have to prove their client’s innocence; they just have to find enough holes in the prosecution’s argument to establish that they have not been proven guilty. But in the debate over Biblical interpretation on homosexuality, the burden of proof falls entirely on the defendants to prove their innocence. What if my fellow Methodists who are anti-gay had to... Read more
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the disconnect between our public posturing as Christians and our actual behavior. I wrote last week about the difference between talking tough about sin in our public gestures and actually having tough conversations about our own sin in accountable relationships. Well today I’m confronted by the gap between the way I talk about reading the Bible and what really happens when I read it. Or at least today when I read all 8... Read more
It’s probably not best practice for a preacher to say this publicly, but my sermon this weekend was pretty awful. I think it’s because I’ve psyched myself out thinking that my congregation isn’t interested in the esoteric, mystical theological nerdiness that I care about, so I got tangled up in knots trying to figure out how to craft a relevant message instead of listening to what God had given me to say, which is why it never came together. So... Read more
Mercy Not Sacrifice
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