Religion and Spirituality
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A Dream for Church
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1 min read
I’ve spent much of my life searching for more from church. More from the institution. More from myself. I want church to be important and to mean something and it doesn’t always feel like it does. When I first heard of Church of the Apostles years ago, I was certain from that moment that if…
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Check out this short excerpt: “God” is not God’s name | The Theological Wanderings of a Street Pastor. God language can tie people into knots, of course. In part, that is because “God” is not God’s name. Referring to the highest power we can imagine, “God” is our name for that which is greater than…
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Build Systems or Leaders?
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3 min read
Which is more important: the system or the leader? Since arriving at St. Paul’s, which is a pastoral-sized congregation*, I’ve figured out that much of the structure of the church is based on specific leaders doing specific tasks, rather than systems. I’m not sure how to feel about this. *[a pastoral-sized congregation is what many…
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The missing Pentecost post
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2 min read
When my friend, David Henson wondered on Facebook where all the Pentecost posts were, it exposed me. Not that the world rotates around me. It’s just… I haven’t been here. My mind has been elsewhere. I wonder if they all are. All the minds, that is. All the minds are elsewhere when it comes time…
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5 Years Ordained
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1 min read
Today is the fifth anniversary of my ordination as a presbyter. Of course, I’m celebrating appropriately–writing sermons for a funeral on Saturday and for Pentecost on Sunday. Rather than reflect on all that I have been a part of over the last five years, I am instead struck by this picture. It dawned on me…
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Not Free to Think
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5 min read
A short reflection on race, geopolitics, theology, and the role of the church in faith. Growing up in the church, I have long felt both at home in the church and like a resident alien. What some classify as evoking transcendent timelessness, I have often seen as dated and inaccessible. When exploring other ways of…