-
·
Fundamentalism and the Fear of Being Wrong
We keep hearing about how divided we are. That we’re more polarized and uncivil than ever. That we hate each other more. But this isn’t the whole truth. Our division doesn’t come from a common rejection of the common ground. It stems from fundamentalism, which is a fundamentally divisive ideology. Because fundamentalism has to be…
-
·
On Being an Enneagram 9
ON BEING AN ENNEAGRAM 9 How strange it is to have one’s mind live in the bargaining middle. Making camp in the breach, the trenches full with soldiers shivering, drenched by the rain which falls on both, pools forming at their feet, layers soaked with misery. A strange place to build a cabin, in the…
-
·
Don’t do nice. Do love.
Monday night, I gathered with many others in a prayer service on the eve of the election. We prayed for unity and hope and an end to division. This morning I pray we continue to pray. But to also guard against “cheap grace”. The one thing this campaign has made plain is that this was…
-
·
Can we build a wall? Refugees, immigration, and hospitality.
I crossed our northern border into Canada often in the mid-2000s. As an American student at a Canadian seminary, I remember the border patrol finding that idea confusing. “Why would you go to school there?” Growing up in a border state, going to Canada was simple and easy. We’d flash a driver’s license and go…
-
·
If We’re All Into One Church, How Can There Be Denominations?
Every Sunday we declare our belief in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. And every Sunday I wonder if we really do. We were in a heated conversation on Facebook. The sort which was shifting wildly from the substance of the original post. So I wanted to ground us in something real. I wanted to…
-
·
How Has God Been Active in the World?
If we want to know who God is, one important place to go is to look at who God has been. Much like we think back on our childhood and reflect on our sibling relationships and how our parents treated us. Looking back is an important window at understanding who we are now. Of all…
-
·
Blurring the Lines – How Jesus Alters Expectations Of Justice
“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” As much as I don’t want to preach on this gospel today, I fear for the thousands of churches and church goers who will wrestle with such a tricky and troubling passage. And how many…
-
·
Belong
Belong (Day 5 of A Simple Lent) Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth is one of my favorite pieces of Scripture. It is hasty and imperfect. It is often obnoxious, and divorced from its context, can sound pretty tough. But given who he is talking to, it makes a bunch of sense. When…