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Christianity Is More Than Kindness
We aren’t supposed to be kind. We’re not. Jesus didn’t die for us to be kind. He also didn’t die for us to be dicks, either. Or to fight over land. Or call people names. But being kind, being nice, that isn’t it. Being a good person, a kind and generous person is a truly important thing.…
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God Embodied
The birth story isn’t about Mary and Joseph; it is about how Jesus comes into the world. AND how Jesus keeps coming into the world. The purpose of the Christmas story Christmas 1C | Luke 2:41-52 The birth backstory Every year we anticipate the coming of Jesus, lighting candles, a new one each week; four…
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The Impractical Life
At some point we have to pick. Some pick at three. I’m a golfer. Or at seventy-three. I’m a priest. We pick a path. A life. Too often, though, we let a life pick us. [bctt tweet=”‘How will you help change the world?’” nofollow=”yes”] I always struggled with the question of what I want to be when I grow…
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What the Kingdom doesn’t look like
Simply getting rid of our stuff isn’t the action Jesus is calling for. Not exactly. Though it is certainly much closer than “GOD wants you to be rich.” Love and inheritance Proper 23B | Mark 10:17-31 A mind-blowing teaching We have arrived in Judea. Days ago we’ve predicted the Passion and watched Jesus transfigured on…
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Preach
“Woe is me if I preach not the gospel” Outside the chapel, Paul’s words belie the most simple of Christian conditions. The call to serve GOD through Christ is deeply personal. “Woe is me,” we might argue, “not woe is we.” Then we keep going. “Woe is me If I preach not the gospel.” This is on…
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Possessing the Kingdom
He’s not mincing words. The Kingdom belongs to them. Not the disciples. Not the Pharisees. Not the Romans. The children. We need to hear these words. How our focus on law and politics misses the real revelation Proper 22B | Mark 10:2-16 The Long Walk is Almost Over The walk from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem is…
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Someone untimely born
Toward the end of Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, he wrote something that sounds a lot like this: I’ve given you something really, really important, maybe the most important thing that I’ve learned: Christ died because we sin. He was buried. Two days later he was brought to life like it says in our Hebrew…
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Learning Love
It seems that they don’t want the world that Jesus is offering: the upside down economy of GOD’s divine fellowship of faith. They want to rule. Following Jesus into a different understanding of love Proper 20B | Mark 9:30-37 Returning to the Passion We remember from last week that Jesus and the disciples had gone…