love

  • Taught to Love

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    26. Christians should be taught to share supportive love generously while restricting selfishness. This should be a no-brainer. Should. If you stopped a random person on the street and asked them to talk about what a Christian is supposed to be, chances are this is what you’d hear. Christians are about generous love. But the problem…

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  • Christians love on the inside and the outside.

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    25. Christians should be taught that faith is both an internal and external commitment to love. The fundamental character of faith is love. Some of us talk about love and we often try to express love, but we rarely equate faith with love. We see love as living out our faith. Or we like to say that our faith inspires our love. But this…

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  • Why Not Empty Hell?

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    23. As, for instance: why would the pastor not empty hell for the sake of love rather than the hollowest of incantations? If love is what you’re about, then why not support love for the sake of love? Isn’t that what God is after? Why not place the redemption at the center of the faith and the…

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  • Faces of Love

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    In Matthew 22:15-22, we get stuck on the words “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s” we forget the whole thing’s a trap. Proper 24A  | Matthew 22:15-22 I don’t know if any of you have been outside in…you know…the last few years…but there are people really concerned with the mixing…

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  • You Aren’t Being Jesus in Your Hate

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    21. Therefore the pastor doesn’t “with” love in excluding his LGBTQ brothers and sisters. The nature of Jesus is being with us. His place is with, presence. Jesus is present in a “withness”. Withness is active. It is intimate and full of hope. There is no grace without the comfort of intimacy. Take the idea that…

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  • Being Jesus

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    20. In taking on the form of Christ, we are making God present again and with the people. The Hands and Feet of Christ When I first realized the implications of Paul’s statement, it scared me. As metaphor, referring to the followers of Jesus as his hands and feet is pure beauty. Think about it! It’s…

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  • “With” is the ultimate expression of faith

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    2. In the word “with” we have the ultimate expression of Christian community, concern, and faith. When Jesus says For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. he’s assuring his followers that he’ll be there. It took centuries of scholars to deconstruct the idea of being there with…

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  • Where ever two or three are gathered

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    1. Jesus expressed the true nature of following him saying “where ever two or three are gathered, I will be with them.” Growing up, I always wanted to know what it meant to be a Christian. We were, of course. My Dad is an Episcopal priest and have more or less been in the church…

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