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In the barrios, the Church my daughter and I were a part of that day was the light of Christ breaking into darkness.
We will not take part in continuing the endless cycle of death and destruction. Not with what we think. Not with what we say. Not with what we do.
If we aren’t living like Christ in the present, when times are relatively good, then we will never live like Christ when things get difficult.
One Sunday we showed up at our rented church building. Someone had spray painted a Nazi swastika on the front of the building.
I know who I am today and I know what role I play in this life because of my mother.
Father we repent and ask for forgiveness, for we know that Jesus did not spend his time isolating and targeting special “sin groups” or trying to defend his positions through arguing and debating.
"This my body, given for you" is not simply a statement reminding us of what Jesus did, but a declaration of what his Body (the Church) will continue to do.
There is a beautiful word, an elegant descriptor, that has been maligned, tarnished, lampooned, distorted, and completely misunderstood.
We must become people of the bottom; people who are below; people who are last; people who are in the back; people who are the least.
Our awe of the cosmic Christ has been replaced by a very casual “Jesus is my bro” attitude.
There are so many positions, angles, self-interested ideologies, and half-truths surrounding us that we are not sure what truth is anymore.
I can courageously face another day, another week, another year because I have a family ready to receive me and shower me with love and acceptance.
The central purpose, the grand narrative, the over-arching achievement of God is to bring heaven and earth back together as one.
You are telling me that a disembodied, spiritual heaven is not the end? I am not sure that is something I can believe.
Our future hope does not involve us as disembodied spirits floating around in the sky.
We have erroneously viewed the Kingdom of Heaven as a disembodied future existence and destination for Christians.
What if the Biblical narrative paints a very different picture of our future hope than the one many Christians have come to believe?
Each of you have had a part in Caroline’s life, molding her and shaping her into the person she is.
Can you imagine America loving our enemies rather than engaging in conflict with them? Me either.
Have you ever felt utterly alone and wished that there was someone else who would just recognize you, say a word to you, or make you feel welcomed?
The truth is that I was afraid that they might perceive me as a salesman or as having some sort of an agenda, even though neither of those are true of me.
Why are we so afraid of extending love and grace to those with whom we disagree?
There can be no hierarchy of bad behavior or worthiness because it is not about the action but about the position.
When we deprive others the opportunity to serve us, we deprive them of the profound joy of serving Christ.
“Oh my goodness. I thought you were some homeless guy and I wasn’t even going to pay attention to you.”
"You will be the servant and I will be the master," my oldest daughter declared to my youngest daughter as they played together the day before Christmas.
Our time would be better spent discussing how to demonstrate a greater love to the Muslims or how we can better serve them with our actions.
The sacrificial way of Jesus has been co-opted by the self-serving, consumer driven interests of cultural America.
When did we get so thin-skinned and so easily offended by everything that people say or do to us as Christians?
The Christian ought not have allegiance to or affinity toward any ideological, political, or governmental system of the world.
The Kingdom of God is the full-on reign of God in the hearts and minds of those who believe in the way, life, and teachings of Jesus.
Every single time we take the humble and submissive way of Christ, it may look like defeat for you as an individual.
There has to be more to our faith in Jesus Christ than just “becoming a Christian in order to get to heaven” in the future. There must be a purpose for which we are called presently…that shapes who we are and what we are to do. Simple answers will not work.
The message and embodiment of the Kingdom of God…in and through Jesus Christ…offered people an alternative of freedom and liberation and an escape from the crushing and oppressive forces at work in the world. The message of the Kingdom of God was that life does not have to be this way.
while the world continues to over-promise and under-deliver an abundant life, we foolishly continue to pursue it with great strength and resolve…but when the one who can be trusted, Jesus, promises to give those who believe in him an abundant life if we follow him…his ways are left untried and viewed as burdensome and enslaving rather than full of blessing and liberation.
When our lives are dictated by our sinful and carnal bodies...we live enslaved and oppressed. But when our bodies are put in subjection to the ways of the Spirit there is freedom, life, and peace.
In our global neighborhood and in the middle of the street in which we live lies a poor brother who has been in need of help for quite sometime. And now needs our help more than ever.
the Incarnation…the word becoming flesh…the logos becoming flesh…the Good News of Great Joy is not on the defensive. It is on the offensive march destroying every stronghold and every work of Satan through the word, the logos, becoming flesh in Jesus Christ and through the logos becoming flesh in our own lives.
We weren’t hired to work the vineyard. We were hired because we know how to work the vineyard.
the really tough thing is that most of us really do not like to change our view or perspective.
Those who follow the way of Jesus no longer have allegiance to any other governments, systems, or political party.
Through worship, the Spirit of God breaks out into the world in prayer, in praise, in service putting broken pieces back together.
If we don't have an overarching understanding of the larger narrative (or 30,000 foot view) of what God is doing in history then we will always continue to operate at the 30 foot view and disagree as to how to view who Jesus was, what he was trying to do, and how we are to be as his followers.
Ideas like loving your enemies, turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, giving your jacket and your shirt have NEVER made sense from a human perspective.
we stand between two interesting bookends of history. on one end we have Jesus claiming that the reason he came was to preach the good news of the Kingdom (Luke 4:43), and on the other end Jesus tells his disciples that the end of the age will come after the good news of the Kingdom is preached to all nations (Matthew 24: 14). somewhere in the middle of these two events, we find the church with very little understanding of this Kingdom that Jesus came to announce.
Jesus did not come to create a special group of "saved" people, rather a Kingdom of priests that offer themselves as living sacrifices used by God to restore a broken and fractured world.
my second-grader blew my mind the other day.  at an age when parents assume the natural inclination of a young child is to be quite selfish…our daughter came home and told us what she had purchased with her hard earned points in her classroom auction.  as she stood in front of me with her backpack…she […]
there will be many within Christianity that will offer criticisms and attacks on the central notions and claims made by Eckhart Tolle in his New York Times best-seller and Oprah Winfrey Book Club selection A New Earth.  and while Tolle sometimes twists the words of Jesus, misunderstands what “a new heaven and a new earth” actually […]
response to a cnn.com article: Americans switching faiths/dropping out  one of the things i have been thinking about lately is how we treat Church as the ends…rather than the means.  when we let our faith, our relationship with God, and even our emotions rise and fall based on “the event” on sunday…we have already taught people that […]
how is it that God has chosen to reveal himself through Jesus to His faithful followers…but not to the rest of the world? maybe that is the question the Church has been asking for too long. the sad thing is that it is not a new question…and it was answered a little less than 2000 […]