discipleship
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Getting behind Jesus
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9 min read
This is the first movement in the turning point, the turning away from the early life of Jesus and toward his destiny. The turning away from safety and toward the danger of the cross. The turning away from home and toward Jerusalem. Jesus turns toward Jerusalem before his followers are ready Proper 19B | Mark…
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My deeply held religious belief
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3 min read
I’ve grown quite tired of the phrases “deeply held belief” and “sincerely held religious belief”. They’ve been coming up a lot lately, especially with that interesting woman from Kentucky. Or those people with the restaurant or the one with the bakery. But we know it from the Hobby Lobby decision. Deeply held, sincerely held belief. We…
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Not a role model
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9 min read
David isn’t a role model. His isn’t a story to tell us that “with GOD, all things are possible.” We shouldn’t imitate David. His sin – a sin we recognize as a sin against GOD, his neighbor, and Bathsheba herself – is not our rule of life. And neither is his action on the battlefield. But…
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The nuisance of divine planting
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1 min read
I fight the grass, forcing its way up through cracks in the sidewalk and driveway like an OCD sentry, defending the palace from natural invasion – grass our persistent interloper. My right thumb, the out side of the pointer, just below the tip, begin to ache, like I’ve been writing with a flat pencil. The outer…
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How To Get the Most Out Of Church
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7 min read
Of course I love church. That goes without saying. But I don’t always love the church. I don’t always love the way we do church or the way we incarnate the church. It sometimes gets to me and drains me. Some of that is me. But a lot of it is the way we approach church as church members…
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Do
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8 min read
Jesus’s departing prayer incites a different kind of revolution Easter 7B | John 17:6-19 A Strange Prayer I might get into trouble for saying this, but please don’t pray like Jesus. If you take John 17 as your example and try to learn to pray like this, then, I don’t know if we can…