love
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10 things to know about marriage and the church
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7 min read
My grandfather loves to tell the story of how he and my grandmother first got together. He thinks it’s a sweeter story than it really is. He relishes the telling and loves to watch Grandma squirm as he goes. He builds it up, giving the reader clues about how he needed to woo her and…
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4 things all Christians want
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3 min read
Though we may seem obsessed with ways in which people of faith are different, there are several things which are common among all Christians. Here are a few things upon which we can all agree we want. 1. Peace I like to joke that the safest thing to want is world peace, since every beauty scholarship contestant knows…
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The hard message of a simple love
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7 min read
To love as Jesus says and does Easter 6B | John 15:9-17 All You Need is Love? We are once again in John 15, which is part of this book’s accounting for Jesus’s final teaching at the last supper. Whereas Mark, Matthew, and Luke have Jesus get right down to the point, giving them…
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What should marriage be?
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7 min read
A “Should’ve Asked Question” While the Supreme Court mulls about trying to figure out what to do with the Frequently asked question: What do we do with “gay marriage”? we are actually left with more pertinent questions. Digging into the politics and legal cases for and against “marriage equality” send us into a spiral of…
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Living in the midst of death
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7 min read
Jesus’s vine image and the challenge of abiding in him Easter 5B | John 15:1-8 A Green Thumb My Mom is a gardener. When we moved up to Alpena from southeast of Detroit, we were moving into a rectory: a two-story beauty with a side porch and slightly sloping lawn. Big, mature trees next…
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How to Really Celebrate Valentine’s Day
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3 min read
I used to hate Valentine’s Day. It’s a Hallmark holiday I’d say. It’s an excuse to buy somebody more stuff I’d say. It’s about making the women in our lives happy I’d say. I was much more cynical then. At its root, the problem I had with the way we celebrate Valentine’s Day is that it…