love
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Possessing the Kingdom
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7 min read
He’s not mincing words. The Kingdom belongs to them. Not the disciples. Not the Pharisees. Not the Romans. The children. We need to hear these words. How our focus on law and politics misses the real revelation Proper 22B | Mark 10:2-16 The Long Walk is Almost Over The walk from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem is…
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Christianity is more than identity
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6 min read
More than identity Reports surfaced a few days ago about a church in Germany which has baptized hundreds of refugees in the last two years. It was first brought to my attention by Zack Hunt, whose insightful piece “Why The Report Of Muslim Refugee Conversions In Germany Breaks My Heart” is, itself, heartbreaking. I know…
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How the guards protect the city from GOD.
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5 min read
Scholars speak of the book, Song of Songs as love poetry to GOD. That it takes its form from the romantic poetry genre and applies it to love of GOD. It possesses a certain sensuality that is scandalous, if for no other reason than it talks about breasts and sex in ways that would make…
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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…