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The Good Samaritan Confusion
The point of the parable of the Good Samaritan isn’t just to be nice. Or that we’re all the same. Jesus pushes us to see how we see each other. Here’s a story poorly understood. There’s a man mugged and beaten by the side of the road. People keep going past him. But one stops…
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Of Heart and Mind
In Heart and Mind, Alexander Shaia gives us a useful path for spiritual growth, offering the gospels as an example and guide. In interviews, Alexander Shaia’s wisdom and profound belief are striking. Hearing him speak to his own story of life and death, invigorates his study. And his interview with Rob Bell about the mythic…
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Prayer Book Revision in Three Headlines
Did The Episcopal Church vote to revise its Prayer Book? Yes and No. The one thing missing from the 79th General Convention coverage is how we chose confusion over clarity. Prayer Book Revision On Hold. Sort of. But Not Really? Depending on where you got your General Convention coverage, the headlines declared the House of…
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Our Do Unto Others Problem
We have a do-unto-others problem. You know, like from the Golden Rule. The one that says we treat each other well. The one that undermines our convictions around immigration. That one. The Golden Rule is ubiquitous. We all know it or some form of it. The phrasing which jumped into my head first is this:…
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Why I Confess – Empire
Confronting the truth about our people is hard. Especially when the truth is about the evil of empire, oppression, and persecution. But that’s no excuse to avoid or deflect–we must engage with it. Arrogance and dealing with the enduring terror of empire “Anglicans persecuted everybody.” I felt my body squirm. The hairs on the back…
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Prayers for Gaza
As of this morning 60 Palestinians were declared dead and over 2,300 were injured in a massacre along the fence in Gaza. Moving the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was what Rachel Shabi called “a deliberate upturning of international conventions.” And timing it for this auspicious date was an intentional thumb on…
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Seven Stories and Revealing the Nonviolent Bible
The trouble with violence and the Bible isn’t just in the way we read it or even that it’s baked into our theology. We can’t even see Jesus at the center when our convictions are founded on violence. I was pretty young when I first asked “what’s so good about Good Friday?” Probably 10 or…
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Gaslighting for Jesus
Much of my experience of befriending fundamentalists in college could best be described as gaslighting. I had to prove my ritual purity by hating the right people to get on a team I never asked to join. Something about fundamentalism itself encourages this view of relationships. Gaslighting for Jesus – or How to Make Friends…