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The Dragon or the Lamb – Power and the Church’s Grave Mistake
In their book The Way of the Dragon Or the Way of the Lamb: Searching For Jesus’ Path of Power In a Church That Has Abandoned It, evangelicals Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel explore how the church has wrestled with the nature of power. And as you can guess from the title, the church has more…
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Of the World
Of the World (Day 3 of A Simple Lent) “They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.” One of the temptations for the Christian is to develop an “Us vs. Them” mindset. We have seen this during those fights over so-called religious freedom. We see this when we…
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The scandal of Jesus
Jesus doesn’t force us to believe. Jesus doesn’t want us to work on the earnestness of our belief: just believe harder – believe more – believe right: to force us to get it. Jesus gives us signs and invitations and these opportunities to see something truly profound: to see this life with a sense…
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Of what are we afraid?
This is what trust looks like, what faith looks like. Not only in the mustard seed, but in the calming of storms. Not only in the theoretical, but in our lives; in our triumphs and challenges; in our doubts and our assurances; in our despairs and our elations. GOD is there and way more committed…
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The New Authority
Jesus shows us why our ideas of power are only half right a Homily for Epiphany 4B | Text: Mark 1:21-28 Authority Today’s story about Jesus leaving the seashore and heading to the synagogue to teach is obviously about authority. It says so. Twice. But it gets a little complicated. Yes, it is about authority…
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Being Where GOD Will Be
That is our certainty. It is found being where GOD is. Where GOD says GOD will be. It isn’t found in our stated beliefs or creeds or political affiliation or what our Sunday School teachers taught us about GOD: it is about how we treat the powerless and the defenseless.
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Jesus Offends Us
John the Baptist is locked in a cell, full of doubt, wondering what the whole Jesus experiment is really all about. He is left questioning everything. What is my role in this? Was I wrong? What he’s really thinking is this: Jesus isn’t the Messiah. This Sunday’s gospel is Matthew 11:2-11, and just in case…