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The Scandal of Lent
Every year I struggle with Lent. I struggle with what we are really called to do. Certain things are different, and yet we don’t really live all that differently. We fast or we take on new things or we mark our worship differently. But something doesn’t ring true about it for me. As I wrote…
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Bible app doesn’t get the season
A real push notification on my phone right now: As the Easter season begins, start a Reading Plan today Two gut responses: The “Bible” app, YouVersion doesn’t actually know that Lent begins today, not Easter? Who doesn’t get that Lent isn’t Easter? The Advent/Christmas problem is invading Lent! The world mischaracterizes Advent as the Christmas…
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GOD is here
a Sermon for Epiphany 4C Text: Luke 4:21-30 The teacher is kicked out of school Jesus approaches the front of the synagogue, is given one of the scrolls of Isaiah and Jesus reads out: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He…
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Saul or Paul?
a Sermon for the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle Text: Acts 26:9-21 From Saul to Paul In the story of the Conversion of Paul, we have perhaps the ultimate Christian example. Paul speaks of his old self, a conversion, and a transformation. Before he became Paul, he was Saul: a self-proclaimed zealot. He was…
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Love King? Live Kingdom.
MLK was a visionary, not because he was a civil rights leader or because he was faith leader, but because he had vision: he understood Jesus’s vision. And he cast it out for us to see. A world in which we lived the Kingdom of GOD, not just paying it lip service. A vision in which he famously…
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What I Heard Phyllis Say
At the end of last week’s Emergence Christianity conference (#EC13) there was a confusion. Phyllis Tickle, the conference keynote speaker, who presented her work on Emergence Christianity throughout, made a couple of controversial statements. Julie Clawson makes a good accounting for them here. However, I heard her differently. First, I will state that I…
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A Ridiculously Basic Introduction to Emergence Christianity
Before I begin, I need to give a whole bunch of caveats. First, this is not only ridiculously basic, but inappropriately basic. The subject is too big to cast in just a few sentences. Second, you should probably just go out and buy Phyllis Tickle’s book of the same name and read it yourself. Third, I have…
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The Incarnate Spirit
a Sermon for Christmas Merry Christmas! We have joyously arrived at the eve of Christmas, that day in which we celebrate, not just the birthday of a special child, but the very incarnation of GOD: GOD’s incredible presence with us and in our world. It is one of our favorite feasts and holidays. One that…