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How to start deconstructing church
I want to help make the church better. Seriously better. Like the kind of thing where everybody feels like there is a place for them. Where everybody is connected and a full participant. I also want to...
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New Testament
The New Testament is about Jesus. The later testament, this one written in Greek, is simple really. It tells the story of Jesus and then his followers. In some ways, the text we refer to as the New...
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Adult Formation
A friend recently said that the church is always 10 years behind. When he said this, I nodded as I thought through all the ways we are behind the world. Technology, marketing, human rights,...
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Confession
“We don’t do confession.” I remember the conversations I used to have as a child about church. And it was usually how we do things differently or what is an E-piss-co-palian? Which always was...
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Exit
When I leave a party, I always look for the host: I want to thank them. It seems respectful. It also gives me a sense of conclusion after the party. I say to myself “OK, now it is OK for me to leave.”...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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How bad is premarital sex? Is it, like bad, or the worst thing I can do?
I’m sure you have some thoughts about sex. And they’re totally justified. I mean, you’re super smart and all. And I’m sure you’re confident in your understanding of a Christian position on premarital...
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Getting Things Done – The cult of hard work and faith like a business
Full disclosure: Keeping myself organized is not my spiritual gift. You know those articles about the creative people with the messy desks? They’re written to make me feel better about myself. But I’ve...
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Believing in grace means living in grace.
24. Christians should be taught that belief unused is unbelief and a damning of God’s generous mercy. Much of what passes for faith or Christian theology is not a profound truth, but a riddle. We...
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Christians love on the inside and the outside.
25. Christians should be taught that faith is both an internal and external commitment to love. The fundamental character of faith is love. Some of us talk about love and we often try to express love,...
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Taught to Love
26. Christians should be taught to share supportive love generously while restricting selfishness. This should be a no-brainer. Should. If you stopped a random person on the street and asked them to...
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Taught to Share
27. Christians should be taught to love our creation and common space more than their own homes. The great theme of the Bible is God’s great reconciliation with the whole world. Not just people named...
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Our Common Need
28. To repress our common need for the sake of personal piety is no lesser a sin of power when reformed. It is impossible to pin all of the Great Reformation on a moment. Martin Luther’s 95 Theses did...
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A Common Sin
29. To fulfill the missio dei, Catholics and Protestants must repent of their common sin to power. Martin Luther saw something in the church others couldn’t. He found a flaw, running through the...
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In the Mercy of God
30. And then all people of faith could put themselves and one another in the mercy of God. Part of me doesn’t care about your individual faith at all. That’s the byproduct of individualism, isn’t it? I...
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Why Not Empty Hell?
23. As, for instance: why would the pastor not empty hell for the sake of love rather than the hollowest of incantations? If love is what you’re about, then why not support love for the sake of love?...
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