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The parable you never knew
Sandwiched between two of Jesus’s most famous parables is a small teaching about a lost coin. And it cracks the whole thing wide open. Two of the most recognizable parables sandwich a poor, misunderstood parable in Luke’s gospel. A parable of revolutionary proportions, often mistaken for an afterthought. A small, instructive parable that speaks today…
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Halloween, All Saints’, & too much candy
A web-friend was recently asked about Halloween and what he thinks about it as a Christian. His response, as expected, was thorough, honest, and appropriate. Mine, is well…perhaps a little less so. I don’t really dig on Halloween & Church. Not because I think it is demonic or sinful or whatever. And it is not…
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Renegades of Funk (Monday Mixtape)
Now renegades are the people with their own philosophies They change the course of history Everyday people like you and me We’re the renegades we’re the people With our own philosophies We change the course of history Everyday people like you and me As I said in my homily yesterday, the stuff that got Jesus…
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7 Keys to engaging young adults in church
Walking through the doors and into the nave, I make pretty snap judgments. [The nave is what some denominations refer to as the sanctuary or worship space] “Oh, they hide the font in the back corner.” “They built a new altar so they could worship the high altar like an idol.” “Choir pews between the…
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Engaging Everyone in Church
Our primary operating assumptions need to be: Church is the people not the building. Every part of the church (the people) is essential. Every person has gifts. In baptism, we are all equal. Our expression of church should match our operating assumptions. My series on engaging everyone in church argues that every single one of…
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Whose son is he?
Proper 25A Matthew 22:34-46 In this corna! Weighing in at a paltry 135 pounds of emaciated flesh, Jesus of Nazareth! And in this corna! Weighing a combined 1,600 portly pounds, the Pharisees! [Booooo!] For the last few weeks, we’ve been dealing with this sequence in Jerusalem in which Jesus is tangling with the Jewish leadership.…
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9 Keys to engaging youth in church
[This post inspired my ebook, A Church for All. I encourage you to check out the information page to find out more!] When I started this series of posts on engaging different age groups in church (so far children and pre-teens), I deliberately chose the word church, rather than ministry. Engaging people in ministry isn’t…
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Finding the Perfect Scam
It’s Stewardship Season, the time of year most dreaded and hated by Episcopalians and other Mainliners because we are terrible at asking for money and even worse at reminding people that they promised to give money. So we are always on the lookout for the best system that will do the work for us: the…