One of the things I acquired from growing up in evangelical youth groups and parachurch organizations was expertise on what love is and isn’t. I imagine it was a trickle-down from C.S. Lewis’s famous book on the Four Loves, which is about the four Greek words for love: agape, eros, philos, and storge. The main thing I remember having drilled into me is stuff like this: “The world says love is a feeling — that’s eros, romantic love, but the love... Read more
If there ever comes a time when evangelical Christians are known for something other than their opposition to homosexuality, maybe today’s Supreme Court ruling will help. We have been living through an era in which Christian morality has been almost exclusively focused on sexuality. Within the Christian community, the gay marriage debate has helped to delineate two entirely different visions for Christian holiness. Do we understand holiness primarily in terms of correctness, or fidelity to a set of commandments? Or... Read more
There were three resolutions for the Virginia annual conference of the United Methodist Church this year. One was never discussed or considered: a proposal for a church-wide living wage campaign. Our youth Bible study took a look at this resolution a couple of weeks ago. Our main critique of it was that it seemed to focus almost exclusively on a legislative approach to the issue, while we felt that a more viable option would be to start with the church... Read more
There’s a voice of love in the world that is always telling each of us who we really are and drawing us into the embrace of our Creator. The problem is that we are caught up in a swarm of other voices who tell us lies which distract us and keep us from hearing the Holy Spirit. Tomorrow night (Wednesday) at 7 pm, something beautiful is going to start at Burke United Methodist Church: a series of conversations called “The... Read more
There’s an African folktale that I’ve read with both of my sons. In the story, every child born in a village is given a song that tells them who they are, giving them their role to play within the village community. Whenever kids start misbehaving and causing conflict, the other villagers sing their song to them so that they will remember who they really are. This was basically the topic of a podcast sermon from the Meeting House that I... Read more
This week’s Monday Merton is taken from chapter 11 of No Man Is An Island, “Mercy.” I feel like starting off by sharing one of my favorite gems from James 2:12-13 which I only discovered recently: “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” Thanks be to God that mercy does indeed triumph over... Read more
I’m working through the fourth chapter of Greg Boyd’s God At War, in which he talks about the existence of other “gods,” or supernatural powers, beside the one God we worship. He makes a distinction between philosophical monotheism, which affirms that there are no autonomous supernatural beings besides God, and what N.T. Wright terms creational monotheism, that there is only one eternal creator but this does not preclude the existence of other supernatural beings. (more…) Read more
A pointed comment in a Facebook group today really cut me to the quick. Another blogger had prefaced a post that he shared with an apology for sharing it and promoting himself. So he was complimented for not being like “those other” self-promoting blog-spammers who think that every Facebook group they belong to is their personal platform, etc. As a self-promoting blog-spammer, I feel a mix of wounded, confused, indignant, and convicted. (more…) Read more
A couple of years ago, we were going around the room at our new member class at church and the people were sharing why they came to our church and stayed. A woman said, “At my last church, the sermon made me feel bad about myself, but now at this church I always go home feeling good about myself.” It made my evangelical heart uneasy to hear her say that because if you leave church feeling good about yourself, doesn’t... Read more
I am a curmudgeon. Not all the time. I’m capable of having my heart warmed. But too often I look upon those around me with scorn for failing to live up to my high standards (that is the standards I have for them). It feels like United Methodism is filled with curmudgeons like me. We’re very good at diagnosing the lack of faithfulness and inspiration that we see in the sinking ship around us, but I wonder if our curmudgeonry... Read more
Mercy Not Sacrifice
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In