Category: religion
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I need pastoring.
Yes, I need pastoring. But it’s not what you think. First, let me say that I think overall we’ve done a grave disservice to the title and meaning of “pastor.” Because when I say “pastor,” don’t you automatically only think of people who work at church buildings and deliver sermons on Sunday mornings?? It’s sad,…
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how my thinking changed about devout orthodoxy when I watched a documentary on Hasidic Judaism
I just watched a documentary that follows a few young Hasidic Jews as they struggle to leave their religious community and make a life on the outside. (All week long I’ve been imagining them as Hasidic-exodizers, leaving their Hasidic religious community for a different way of life. The irony is splendid – is it not?…
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Ke$ha “Hymn”
Have you heard Ke$ha’s new song, “Hymn”? It is quite beautiful. Hauntingly beautiful, in my humble opinion. I am embarrassed to say that if I would have heard this song in my twenties, it would have made me instantly angry, defensive, and judgmental. I would have gotten out my theological red pen and gone to work…
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Jesus is different than you think.
No matter in what country you were raised, no matter who raised you, no matter to what church you do or don’t go, no matter which Scripture passages are your token favorites, no matter how many books about Jesus you do or don’t read, no matter how aligned your theology is to whichever famous theologian…
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Repenting of Religion (by Gregory A. Boyd)
a premature book recommendation I usually don’t write [at least directly] about the books I’m reading until my end-of-year book reviews posts. But I’m reading a book right now that is, in the words of my dear friend Samantha, ‘tearing me up.’ Not tearing like so many salty water droplets from my eyes; tearing like…
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What is church?
My boys were in the car with my sister when it happened. They drove past our church building – a huge, gorgeous brick building located conspicuously downtown, right on the main drag. “There’s your church!” my sister said, innocuously. “Well, that’s the place we go to church,” my 4-year-old corrected her, just as innocuously. “Our church…
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Mid-Week Quiet Service
A few months ago my friend/pastor and I started a short, simple contemplative service in our 100-year-old stained glass sanctuary every Wednesday from 12noon – 12:45pm. We call it Quiet Worship, Quiet Service, or sometimes, just Quiet. I wanted to share it with you in case: you’re local and you’d like to come! you’re far…
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bringing heaven / bringing hell
I hear a lot of conversation surrounding: How do we, as Jesus-followers, bring heaven to earth? It is, indeed, the beautiful beginning place of the Lord’s prayer: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done — on earth as it is in heaven.” This conversation is important, wonderful, great. But, I think we could get a…
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How to survive ‘Meet & Greet’ at church: for people who get squeamish around awkwardness
Whenever I’m in a new place, it takes me a little while to settle in. In a place like my current 125-year-old church, where lots of people have been attending, serving, knowing, and being known for a lot of years, it can take me even longer. But, I’ll never forget the Sunday that God decided…
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awful, awe-full Friday
What an awful, awe-full Friday. Awful an innocent man a muddied, mottled, muddled trial murdered. Awe-full nonsense: a God who lets himself die publicly unjustly freely for me. Awful the dark dire depths of breathed-dirt. Awe-full a God who brings and sings True Light True Breath by walking willingly into this dark earth amid the…