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Blessed To Make Peace
For our darkest hours Jesus gives us a vision of the Kingdom of GOD and the blessed community. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the…
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The Saints Unbound
But I wonder, if we listen close, if we don’t hear words, we’ll hear weeping. Weeping for the loved one lost? Weeping for GOD’s own? Weeping for our pain and suffering and confusion? Weeping because we haven’t listened. Mary, Martha, Lazarus and the Light of the World All Saints’ Day B | John 11:32-44 Sisters…
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How a blind beggar became the greatest disciple
This final moment has a blind man in front of them, but can they see him? He is shouting for Jesus, but can they hear him? Is the man like a tree, walking to them? Are his shouts like the buzz of a mosquito? Do they not understand yet, even now, at the end of…
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Priest as Jesus?
I don’t know what those first followers did after he was gone. I know they cried, some wailed, all wondered what to do. Where to go. Who they are now. If we follow him, and these other, really smart, highly educated, super powerful leaders don’t like what our leader (is he really the Messiah?) had to say,…
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Cross or Crucifix?
I still don’t know why Christians wear crosses. The cross was a Roman torture device. The cross was the vehicle the state used to kill insurrectionists and rebels. It was like the medieval head on a pike. It wasn’t reserved for normal criminals or representative of criminal justice in the first century. It was how…
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Trinity
The Trinity is the most important concept in the church. It is important in the way that things are important. It has this essential character, it is the source of great conflict, and it has some brilliance to it. And yet the doctrine of the Trinity is about as confusing, ill-defined, and poorly executed of…
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Children
Any conversation about children in church must begin with children. I say this knowing that it is rarely the case. Much more likely that we begin with how adults handle children or what adults want for their children or what adults can have without children present. I know that this is a touchy subject. But…
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New Testament
The New Testament is about Jesus. The later testament, this one written in Greek, is simple really. It tells the story of Jesus and then his followers. In some ways, the text we refer to as the New Testament never gets much more complicated than that. The complexity doesn’t actually come from the Greek Scriptures…