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Christmas Stories
We expect our Christmas stories to be full of joy. But they often only end that way. How we get there is how we find grace.
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Vessels of divine love and grace
The Epiphany is not just the celebration of some dudes bringing presents. It’s the revelation that God’s grace is suitable for all of us.
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Grace Upon Grace
In the prologue to John’s gospel, we get a deep, wonderful, and expansive image of God that builds up our awe and our gratitude.
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Giving Grace
The hardest challenge Jesus gives those inside the church is to recognize that the saving grace is not about who we were before, but during and after. Proper 21A | Matthew 21:23-32 Before Jesus is teaching in the Temple and these chief priests and scribes question his authority, Jesus had to get there. When we…
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Does My Justification By Faith Mean I Can Do Whatever I Want?
I sat there, soaking it all in. My professor, with a voice full to the brim with boredom, introduced us to the controversy that wouldn’t die. Often described as The New Perspective on Paul, he guided us through a church fight over a single word. Now I understand why he was over it. At the…
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With Unveiled Faces
Paul is not an anti-Semite. I think we should start there. When Paul argues that Moses put a veil over his face and all who hear him read are veiled: this should not be read as anti-semitic. Paul was Jewish. It is more like differentiation. While the other apostles were trying to figure out how…
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A word about mercy
Mercy is a gift to unburden a heavy soul, not an excuse to live without consequence. Considering all that we’re dealing with right now, we could use the reminder.
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Grace in the streets of Baltimore
We might think it strange that the most significant image of grace and protection is shown by the uniting factions of rival gangs. We might think that these purveyors of violence would never be our example, our witness to grace. Of course, we’d be ignorant of what gangs hope for. Ignorant of what the people need.…