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Don’t Be Afraid. I Really Do Mean It!
Text: Luke 1:26-38 In this morning’s gospel, we have what should seem absolutely crazy. It doesn’t for two reasons: 1) its very familiar and 2) the virgin birth has been an ideological litmus test for fundamentalists as something to intellectually believe with deep-rooted conviction. Rather than treating this like we do the rest of the…
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Please Don’t Wish Me a Merry Christmas
If you’re out there waging your insurgent campaign to defend Christmas from those that have invaded your holiday and claimed it for their own, apparently throwing Christ in lock-up and using enhanced interrogations against him, I’ve got one simple message to you: Don’t wish me a “Merry Christmas!” Please, for the love of all things…
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Parents: Crying It Out Is Not Best
As parents, we have all been there. There has never been a child that G-d has given us that hasn’t cried for what feels like a little too long or at seemingly just the wrong time. All parents have felt this stress. And every parent has lost it. I remember a specific instance in which…
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New Danger For Our Climate
A new discovery of methane gas in the Arctic could spell trouble: Russian scientists have discovered hundreds of plumes of methane gas, some 1,000 meters in diameter, bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean. Scientists are concerned that as the Arctic Shelf recedes, the unprecedented levels of gas released could greatly accelerate global climate change… Keep reading…
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Church: Club, Community, or Neither?
Awhile back I wrote about how much I hate announcement time. Go back and take a look at it, because I feel justified in saying that. Announcement time, as I’ve experienced it in the several congregations I’ve served has, for the most part, been a horrible train wreck. This is mostly the case because it is…
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A Theology of Personhood
When Rose and I began planning our family, Rose became pregnant easily. I was finishing seminary and had a position lined up and everything seemed to be going well. Then one weekend night, Rose woke me up to tell me something was wrong. She had severe cramping. Then when she went into the bathroom, she…
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Will Willimon: Ayn Rand and Christmas
Will Willimon has written a great piece on what Ayn Rand represents to us right now. In college an older student handed me a book, solemnly saying, “This tells the truth.” The next day I read Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” cover-to-cover. Even as a freshman I could tell it was a poorly written novel. I assumed Rand’s bloated…
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Permissive vs. Supportive
I have noticed two ways of being community, having spent some time in the South, and most of my life in the North. And I describe these differences using two positive terms: permissive culture and supportive culture. Rather than break the differences down by political affiliation or in directly opposing terms as we are wont…
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