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What the Hell Is Sin?
I remember walking out of the movie theater with great disappointment. This time it wasn’t the hype. I wasn’t super excited because of everything I heard. This was that experiential disappointment that comes when a good movie feels trapped in its own illusion. The kind where there are many ways to end it if you…
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Why Do Christians Always Talk About Sin?
Some Christians seem totally obsessed with it. Some never talk about it. Why? What is it about sin that makes Christians talk about it all the damned time? We have to deal with it because it is a huge part of the faith. The problem is that we often are dealing with the baggage and the…
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Stumbling Block
We are all pretty obsessed with sin. Whether or not we believe that’s true, we are. Sin inspires us. It inspires us to believe remarkable things about GOD and nature and all of creation. For some that it is all depraved and drenched in showers of evil. For some, it is to see creation through…
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Defile a Person
Defile a Person (Day 22 of A Simple Lent) Saturday I’m becoming increasingly conscious of the presence and absence of a single letter in worship. Such a small thing, almost imperceptible. It shows up and completely changes our intentions. Most of us don’t even see it. A radical transformation of intention and expectation comes from a single…
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Idol In the World
Idol In the World (Day 19 of A Simple Lent) Wednesday Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ‘no idol in the world really exists’, and that ‘there is no God but one.’ What do you suppose is the question Paul is trying to answer? It always helps me to…
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Turning to GOD
And still we say that GOD punishes and we treat one another with great cruelty because we believe that GOD is in the business of hating and punishing and driving the immigrant out of the community in spite of everything written in Scripture which bears that as a lie, which reveals how false a claim…
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Casting the Second Stone
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” That’s how we remember the line. The passage from John actually says: “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Close, right? Still totally recognizable. So easy to turn into an aphorism, a saying. Jesus is trying…
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The Crooked Path
When we lighten our hearts, when we give away the sin like plaque that’s collected on our arteries, stifling our hearts and destroying our lives, we can breathe. We can run. We can love. Preparing a way for GOD’s kingdom come Advent 2C | Luke 3:1-6 The Beginning We begin again. We end. We begin.…