Liturgy
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Sermon as Teaching
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7 min read
My Dad’s a good preacher. He isn’t the lift the roof off the rafters type. Nor is he egg-heady with scattered references to German theologians. And he isn’t a daily living preacher, either. He doesn’t do genre. He does story and he tries to make sense of the gospel and what people are dealing with…
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Old Testament
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5 min read
Let me begin by saying that I shy away from the term “Old Testament”. Yes, I’m one of those people. My concern with the name (and its companion, the New Testament) is not that they aren’t PC enough. It is that they are too narrowly prescriptive and restrict the beauty and depth of our scripture.…
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Bible
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5 min read
I remember a point in my life, not a precise moment, but a time period, in which I realized that the Bible had a lot more in there than I had learned in Sunday School. I was probably 10. We were talking about Samson and his super powers and his kryptonite magic hair and I…
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Psalm
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3 min read
The psalms are the odd duck of the Bible. As a book of Scripture, they stick out. They are like the weird friend who is an exceptional pianist or the anti-social kid who can make exceptional speeches. The Psalms are remarkable reading. But they aren’t a story. They don’t tell the story of creation or the birth of…
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Lessons
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3 min read
We’re in church to worship. And after the big opening, we slow it down, like the second track on an album; it’s time to have a seat, relax, and listen. Not all groups do worship the same way, but we nearly always read scripture. Arguably, it is the one constant. Even without music or prayer…
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Entrance
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3 min read
How do we enter into church? The building, the people, the concept… How do we come in? Do we walk…stroll…shimmy? Do we slink in and sit in the back? Stride to the front? Get lost in the middle? Do we seek out the familiar pew in the familiar space? Is it the same community of…