rules
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A Convincing Argument
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8 min read
We sometimes get stuck in a convincing argument because it sounds right. In the case of Sabbath law, we’re seduced by only half of the point. Sabbath remains a revolutionary conceptProper 16C | Luke 13:10-17 When we remember the creation story, we recall more than an origin. We receive our purpose. Light and dark. Day…
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What God Intends
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9 min read
In Mark 7, Jesus responds to a challenge over rule-breaking by exposing their hypocrisy. Is this just a takedown, or is he saying something else? The challenge of following Jesus isn’t doing or believing. It’s both. Proper 17B | Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 We have to go back nearly two months. Back in June, we…
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Hallowing the Sabbath
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8 min read
The Pharisees confront Jesus because his disciples break Sabbath law. Jesus turns the story around to show how few of them are really keeping the Sabbath. We could easily say the same about us. In Breaking the Sabbath, Jesus seeks to keep it. Proper 4B | Mark 2:23-3:6 “One sabbath Jesus and his disciples were going…
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Abide the Rules?
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10 min read
Jesus has a pretty conflicting relationship to the rules. And for many Christians, you’d think Jesus gave us a mountain of rules to follow. But really there is just one really vague rule and he constantly urges us to look past the rest to see it. Rule-breaking and rule-making in the love of Jesus Easter…
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Ignoring the Human Cost to Public Safety is Immoral
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6 min read
I recognize the impulse. Sometimes I feel it too. The burden of other people’s junk and the siren song of liberty. The idea that the human cost is too hard to measure against the bottom line. And it’s argument has real merit. Too many rules do cut into our ability to innovate, create, and thrive.…
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The Gospel of Nice
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12 min read
I made waves in a book group a few months ago when I said that the Gospel isn’t about being nice. Or kind. Or being “a good person.” Like Jesus says to the pious young man (who was doing all the right things to be “a good person”) you haven’t done everything. You still have stuff.…