2014

Last updated on: July 27, 2014 at 7:39 am By Mark Sandlin

Sunday Morning Prayer – Based on Matthew 22:34-46 (A Prayer of Confession) Good and gracious God, We sometimes struggle to love the way we should. We sometimes allow our relationships to become distorted, exploitative, even destructive. We gossip and slander, we belittle and bully – at times, we even find ourselves wanting vengeance. Remind us that these things, that way of being, points to a systemic problem. That way of being comes into our lives through systems of power, privilege,... Read more

The New American Segregation

Last updated on: July 23, 2014 at 8:50 am By Mark Sandlin

Corporate coffers are stuffed full. Their piggy banks runneth over. The top 25 percent of Americans have consumed more and more of the total income in America since 1970 – moving from less than 10 percent to more than 40 percent – and the rest of us have “enjoyed” smaller and smaller percentages of the overall income. Most of America is poorer than it has ever been while corporations, CEO and top managers are living high on the hog. Businesses,... Read more

Question Mark: Q&A with Mark Sandlin

Last updated on: July 20, 2014 at 8:00 pm By Mark Sandlin

Question Mark — Week of July 20 From time to time, I ask for questions on my personal Facebook page (feel free to friend request me). Based on nothing in particular, I’ll pick five of them to answer. Admittedly, most of the questions deserve much more consideration than I can give them in a few paragraphs, but I think this could be a good place to start conversation and possibly to challenge some long-held opinions of what a Christian... Read more

Sunday Morning Prayer — 7/20/2014

Last updated on: July 20, 2014 at 7:25 am By Mark Sandlin

Sunday Morning Prayer – Based on Psalm 146 (A Prayer of Confession) Good and gracious God, Sometimes our words get in the way. Sometimes we allow our words to be the full extent of our actions. We say that we love someone, but our actions can seem less than loving. We say that we would hate to see anyone go hungry, but we drive by people who have little to eat. We say we worship the Prince of Peace, but... Read more

Unto the Refugees, So Too Unto Me — How You Can Help

Last updated on: July 20, 2014 at 12:47 pm By Mark Sandlin

“I didn’t come here because I wanted a job… I came here because I wanted to live.” These are the words from an undocumented immigrant here in the U.S. When I heard them, they struck me to my core. They could have easily been the words of Mary, mother of Jesus, as they fled to Egypt during his childhood. “We just wanted to live.” As Christians, our tradition, our faith, our roots, are all tied up in an immigrant identity... Read more

Jesús and the Attempted Exodus: A U.S. Border Tragedy

Last updated on: July 18, 2014 at 7:31 pm By Mark Sandlin

(Sometimes fiction helps us see past our blind spots and get to the heart of a matter. I don’t typically write fiction, but this time I felt like it was calling for it. Much has been written about the humanitarian and even biblical call to care for the children at the U.S/Mexican border – even the Pope has helped give us perspective [#popecrush #on]. I wanted to humanize the story in order to get at the realities beneath it without... Read more

Question Mark: Q&A with Mark Sandlin

Last updated on: July 18, 2014 at 7:31 pm By Mark Sandlin

Question Mark — Week of July 13 This is a new series I’m trying out on the blog. From time to time, I’ll ask for questions on my personal Facebook page (feel free to friend request me). Based on nothing in particular, I’ll pick five of them to answer. Admittedly, most of the questions deserve much more consideration than I can give them in a few paragraphs, but I think this could be a good place to start conversation... Read more

Sunday Morning Prayer — 7/13/2014

Last updated on: July 13, 2014 at 7:33 am By Mark Sandlin

Sunday Morning Prayer – Based on Luke 12:49-56 (A Prayer of Confession) Good and gracious God, we’ve been conditioned to look at the world through an either/or division. Either you are with us or… Either you are right or… Either you are straight or… Our oversimplification of the immense complexity of Creation has left us with divisions that are not real – they are not a reflection of the realities woven into Creation. We have made our own creation –... Read more

10 Anti-Gay Things You Can’t Do While Following Jesus

Last updated on: May 5, 2017 at 2:26 pm By Mark Sandlin

As I say in all of my “10 Things You Can’t Do While Following Jesus” articles, this is by no means meant to be a complete list, but it’s a decent place to start. Also, this is not to say that people are unable to do these things when they are following Jesus, as much as it is saying if you are doing these things, you are doing something counter to the teachings of Jesus. 1) Condone violence toward... Read more

Question Mark: Q&A with Mark Sandlin

Last updated on: July 10, 2014 at 7:09 am By Mark Sandlin

Question Mark — Week of July 6 This is a new series I’m trying out on the blog. From time to time, I’ll ask for questions on my personal Facebook page (feel free to friend request me). Based on nothing in particular, I’ll pick five of them to answer. (This time I almost selected, “Should I switch to Geico?”.) Admittedly, most of the questions deserve much more consideration than I can give them in a few paragraphs, but I... Read more