As the confirmands receive the sign of the cross on their foreheads and the baptismal waters flow off of your head Milana, we as a community will pray that the Holy Spirit take up residence inside you, inside the confirmands, moving, prodding, and leading you all to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
Read MoreThis book may not help you untangle the mess caused by broken trust, mismanaged finances, or kids taking centerstage in your relationship.
Read MoreThis week we’re talking The World’s Largest Man, chronicling The Chronicles of Narnia, church birthday parties, the Nicene Creed, good harmonies, inheriting death, the unchurched, drunk disciples, and being convicted by the Spirit.
Read MoreIf the hand tells the food it is not needed and can be cutoff, the body is not unified.
Read MoreCan the Church be inclusive towards LGBTQIA people without being a progressive Church? Does “All means all” mean so long as you all agree with us?
Read MoreWe have not acted and now we find ourselves beginning to retreat back into the ordinary time of the world. We assume the ordinariness of the summer life of the church gives way to kick-offs in the fall but Advent begins today! The Hope and Promise of the Incarnation push the ordinary of the world to the side as the Hope and Promise of Christ’s justice and mercy take centerstage.
Read MoreThe premise of Naked & Afraid is to find out whether or not, when someone is in their most vulnerable state, can they survive? With the bare minimum, can a team of people thrive? It is great reality television but what draws many to the show, I suspect, is that many of us expect our day-to-day lives to be like this. We feel exposed before the world and thriving is off the table because we are just trying to survive.
Read MoreWe ask questions with predetermined answers in our minds and when the answer from the responding party does not fit our expectations or needs, we keep asking. We keep asking because we need empirical truths, we think to produce faith.
Read MoreThe calling extended to Peter, “Follow me,” is the same calling extended to each of us when we emerge from our baptismal waters. This calling - “Follow Me” - is an invitation to meet Christ at his table, but “Follow me” is also an invitation to experience the fullness of the freedom extended to us by the power of Jesus’ Easter victory - the final victory over our captivity to sin and death.
Read MoreFaith that comes from the peace of Christ is not something we do or attain on our own. We see throughout Christ’s ministry, death, and now in the aftermath of the resurrection - in the light of the empty tomb - faithfulness in places where our own faithfulness falls short. Regardless of our demands for signs to subside our doubts the faithfulness of Christ provides us with the peace we need.
Read MoreOn the most important psalm, proper agency, life on the other side of the resurrection, the best hangover, death breath, The Sorting Hat, and subversive obedience.
Read MoreIs there such thing as a bad Good Friday service? Why is Fleming Rutledge so good at messing with our minds? Can we pole-vault over the cross?
Read MoreThe shadow of the cross blinds us to the peace of heaven spilling over into creation. Domination through ruthlessness - Pax Roma - is no match for the justice and mercy - Pax Christi - of the Kingdom of God.
Read MoreThe Lord is telling Israel, “yes I did a new thing in bringing you out of slavery. And yes, you are being provided for in a barren land where not even the wild beasts can survive. I know it is hard for you to see it because you have become hardened by life but if you could just look at the world with possibility and joy you will see the best is yet to come.”
Read MoreChrist’s resurrection, overcoming the power and defeat of death, is what has made us able to live in the newness of what G-d is creating. Resurrection was and is divine transformation and renewed our relationship, humanity’s relationship, with our Creator.
Read MoreThe world is full of good-hearted heathens, those who love people and those who want to do good in the world. They're not against God--they just have little use for church. Church is boring and hypocritical. Plus, who wants to sit through a sermon every week? But while organized religion doesn't appeal to them, these heathens long for a connection to something bigger than themselves: meaning, community, mission.
Read MoreOn May 13 as I sit in the National Cathedral, I will be a stranger sitting next to people who are walking a similar journey to mine. They may become colleagues of mine in the Virginia Annual Conference or maybe, I will never see or speak to them again.
Read MoreIf you asked me 3 years ago if Crackers & Grape Juice would allow me to interview people like Rob Bell, NT Wright, Fleming Rutledge, and Diana Butler Bass, I would have said you were out of your mind.
Read MoreAt its most basic level, repentance changes the way we behave in and view the world. Instead of our own perception, we begin to see the world as Christ does. When we want to focus on sin and judgment, Jesus invites us to look at the world differently. Jesus had/has a Kingdom view of the world and in his invitation to repent, he is extending citizenship in his kingdom to us, the citizens of Rome.
Read MorePaul wrote to a church in Philippi contending with issues of arrogance and disunity. Arrogance and disunity act as prohibitors to imitating Christ’s love as a community. Arrogance and disunity were distractions, and Paul extended grace to the Philippians by reminding them of what the love of G-d in Christ had accomplished.
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