I just finished reading through Larry Crabb’s new book, Fully Alive. I’ve never read anything Crabb has written before, but considering his usual audience and connection to Focus on the Family, I think it was a bit courageous of Crabb to take on this project. In Fully Alive Crabb is writing to try and explore the reason why God made genders in the first place. Why was gender important for his image bearing creatures? Crabb’s answer is that the relational God... Read more
We are preaching through Ephesians at church right now. If you attempt this, it’s important to get Paul’s eschatology in front of you while you are reading and working with the text. This is a version of a diagram that I’ve seen multiple places. Michael Gorman’s short book Reading Paul has one – good book by the way. The Timothy Gombis book The Drama of Ephesians has one as well. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen one in some piece of... Read more
“One of the misfortunes in the long history of the church is that we have mistakenly separated love of God from love of neighbor, and – always – they are held together in prophetic poetry.” – Walter Brueggemann I ran across this video a few days ago. It’s this short little promo for The Justice Conference in 2011. You can read about the work they continue to do here. It started me thinking about how much I have been impacted by... Read more
Wedding toasts are tough. Some people aim really high and then crash and burn – embarrassing themselves and everyone watching. Some people ramble on forever, telling inane stories and laughing about inside jokes until you inwardly beg them to just sit down. Some people get so choked up – more from the fear of public speaking than the moment itself – they can hardly get through it… awkward. And then there are the millions of normal heartfelt toasts that are... Read more
Independence Day is always a bit of a strange holiday for me. In fairness, nearly every holiday is strange for me. Christmas and Easter are big work days, others that fall in the middle of the week just end up being like another work day. (I’m doing sermon prep today, can you tell?) Independence Day is a bit different, though, because I have a complicated relationship with my country. I love being an American. Let’s not kid ourselves… by virtue... Read more
It’s only ugly because it’s new and you don’t like it… pretty brilliant statement that I need to at least attempt to hear. It’s only ugly because it’s new and you don’t like it. How many of my current opinions, dispositions, or judgments fall under that rubric: same = good, change = bad? And, isn’t that always what the powerful tell themselves in order to create the rationale for why they must continue to run the world? Isn’t that also... Read more
In an effort to become a better writer, I’m trying to think critically about the way I construct my arguments. Ultimately the stronger argument will not always win; sophistry often wins out over logic. Still I want to write and speak with integrity and let the chips fall where they may. I’m trying to catch myself in the act as I write an article, chapter, sermon, or blog post, and force myself to always play fair. One of the ways... Read more
I’m not a huge fan of pranks, but the way Jim could wind up Dwight in The Office was nothing short of brilliant. If practical jokes worked perfectly in real life the way they work on the sitcom universe, I might actually have to reconsider my involvement. Here’s a quick montage of a few of Jim’s greatest… good Friday everybody! Read more
In light of the Supreme Court Ruling yesterday about marriage and DOMA, I wanted to share the best marriage quote I’ve ever read, at least in relation to the modern institution of marriage. Alexander Schmemann was an Eastern Orthodox priest, writer, and theologian. His book For the Life of the World is a must-read. It is on my list, The Top Ten Books Every Christian Should Read. Schmemann remind us that marriage can become an idol or an icon (something... Read more
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