July 2017

  • Love Poets

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    Like poets, Jesus invites his followers to observe in our world those places where God breaks through so that we might revel in that joy. Proper 12A | Matthew 13:31-33,44-52 The work of the poet is discovery. After ruthless editing of course. Discovery. It begins first with discovery in the world: observation. The poet watches…

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  • Compromise May Be the Answer, But Not To This Question

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    Compromise is an essential part of relating with other people. But what happens when it’s missing? And how effective are our demands for it? Compromise is one of the most essential skills for people to learn. To grow up, we need to work toward agreement with sacrifice and mutual concern. Even to get the things…

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  • Even Scarier Words

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    EVEN SCARIER WORDS The day the president insulted himself I was 8. I didn’t know anything about him except that he sold weapons to bad people and seemed OK with lying about it. But I’ve always wondered how he could say such terrible things about himself. That his being there speaking would terrify a person.…

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  • Revealed

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    In Matthew’s parables, we are offered different visions of God’s dream for humanity, but we struggle to hear what Jesus is revealing. Proper 11A  |  Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 The first time I knew that God was real, I was in seminary. While some of you might think that’s crazy, I know some of you know…

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  • Centrism’s Flaw

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    How centrism is often a morally dubious position to hold. You argue with a friend and it’s getting heated. You’re feeling confident and they’re getting stubborn and you feel your throat tighten. You go outside of yourself and say wait a second. Your impulse is to chill out the conversation for the sake of the relationship.…

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  • 8 Reasons to reform civil asset forfeiture

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    Civil asset forfeiture is proof the way we talk about regulation is wrong. It isn’t the amount of regulation that matters. What matters is the way we regulate. Created as a tool to go after organized crime and those who might use their wealth to elude the police, civil asset forfeiture gives police at all…

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  • Skip the Vacation Advice. This is What We Really Need.

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    We don’t need vacation advice. We need forgiveness for going on vacation. Maybe you’re like me and struggle with going on vacation. It isn’t easy to leave work or home. Packing the car and getting away long enough to forget about the other stuff. So we go looking for vacation advice. Or maybe it’s worse.…

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  • To Not Be Righteous

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    As followers of Jesus, we are called into discipleship. But that doesn’t mean being more righteous than our neighbors but merely generous. Proper 8A  |  Matthew 10:40-42 This short gospel reading doesn’t seem like much. But if you’ve been following along the last few weeks, then you know it is anything but simple. Not even…

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