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Is the Church Necessary?
Shoehorned into the pew of this modest church in suburban Boston, listening to glorious hymns sung by an incredible choir in a packed nave, and hearing announcements of fantastic outreach, I had never in my life felt less connected to the church. I showed up one more time before I disappeared as suddenly as I…
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Do I Have To Dig On the Trinity Or Is God Cool With Me Anyway?
I’m not sure you can call yourself a Christian if you haven’t ever had to explain the Trinity to someone. My first attempt was when I was 22 and working at Barnes & Noble. It was a miserable failure. My failure was less about my skill or understanding than it is the material one has…
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If God Is Love, What’s With All the Hate?
It’s a good question. If we believe God is love, how can there be so much hate? In the world? Among Christians? What does it say about us when we consider the old song “They will know we are Christians by our love” or Jesus’s instruction in John 13:35: By this everyone will know that…
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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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What Does God Think Of Creation: “Total Garbage” Or “Love It”?
Depending on who you talk to, creation is either total garbage or the blessing of God, what God called good throughout creation. What does God think of creation? Well, that probably depends on what you think God is up to. Part of the problem is many Christians see creation as being two worlds. The world…
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Hey God! What Should We Call You?
Christian faith and scripture presupposes we can talk with God. While this is not consistently applied in tradition, there is an expectation that we can directly address God. Even if that address is through Jesus. From the first humans in the Garden chatting with a god who walked among them to Jacob wrestling with God…
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Who Is God?
While this is probably the most important question of them all, it is also the one we are least equipped to answer. We’ll try. Oh yes we will. Over and over. From our experience and our learning. From reading scripture and studying the scholars. We all will try to answer that question. But we can’t.…
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Do I Have a Choice?
The one rule about church we had growing up was that we had to go on Sundays. Not that we had to pay attention or like it. We didn’t have to memorize or make public commitments. There was no witnessing or professing our faith. I never saw this as a hurdle or an unreasonable expectation.…