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You and I are the real devils – Some thoughts on Satan
I never got the devil. Satan. I never believed it existed. My earliest memories of Satan were the conflicted and stretched arguments of cartoons and Bible stories in church, none of which made the devil ever seem real. It was like thinking thunder came from God bowling in the clouds or stepping on a crack…
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A Book of Prayer for Common People
For many, the Book of Common Prayer is a source of continuity and comfort. What they rarely recognize is that it is a radical, world-changing document. Written and updated by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (1533-1556), the Book of Common Prayer, or BCP was a radical invention formed of a radical time. England, thoroughly enmeshed in another of…
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What You Probably Misunderstand About the Culture War
A culture war? You and I have our political-church landscape wrong. And we’re making it worse. Here’s how we fix it: we speak the truth.
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The Divine Dance reveals why the substance of faith is the space between us.
“Bad theology is like pornography–the imagination of a real relationship without the risk of one.” And with that, William Paul Young’s forward to The Divine Dance sets the table for what follows. And propels us into the very substance of our faith. We explore what it is we’re seeking. And why it is we expect more…
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How Come I Never Hear About Christian Hope?
Christian Hope? Really? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Christians were the world’s most pessimistic people. The world is always ending. But not in that good way. In the hold-off-the-armies-of-satan way. The depictions of Christians in the news are often our most deplorable people. The ones always after minorities to change their behavior…
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The World’s Most Secret Theology
So what do we actually believe? Most Christians are taught specific things to believe. We find them in our prayers and creeds. We find them preached on Sunday and revealed in Bible studies on Wednesdays. And when we try to fit into a group, we want to find out what they believe. All that stuff is…
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God Embodied
The birth story isn’t about Mary and Joseph; it is about how Jesus comes into the world. AND how Jesus keeps coming into the world. The purpose of the Christmas story Christmas 1C | Luke 2:41-52 The birth backstory Every year we anticipate the coming of Jesus, lighting candles, a new one each week; four…
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Trinity
The Trinity is the most important concept in the church. It is important in the way that things are important. It has this essential character, it is the source of great conflict, and it has some brilliance to it. And yet the doctrine of the Trinity is about as confusing, ill-defined, and poorly executed of…