Friends, I’ve re-started my blog on Huffington Post. That space will host a (hopefully) regular humor column, while I will continue to post worship pieces, biblical reflections, theological ponderings, and denominational rants here at Spacious Faith. Thanks for reading!
We are looking at the Elijah and Elisha stories in worship right now. Here are a couple of worship pieces for this week: Call to Worship Leader: We have come to listen to the biblical stories. All: We have come to consider our own stories. Side 1: Have you seen blazing chariots? Side 2: Have…
Even now, two thousand years later, you can almost hear the man’s sigh of relief when Jesus reminds him of the basic commandments. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve got all of that covered,” says the man. (“I’ve got eternal life in the bag,” he thinks.) And you can almost see the look of concern slowly settle on…
1 Kings 17:17-24 This is the first resurrection story in the Bible. Amidst all the miracles of the Hebrew scriptures–creation and the flood and the plagues and the red sea parting and the water in the wilderness—here in 1 Kings 17 is the first time we ever read of God making someone who is dead…
I was privileged to listen in on a press conference yesterday with Mennonite Central Committee staff and MCC partners working in Lebanon and Syria. I was invited by virtue of being a MennoNerds blogger, and I decided to join the conference call because I’m still kind of sick and basically sitting around the house all…
A friend of mine recently posed this question on Facebook: Junior high girls braiding each other’s hair in church: appropriate or not? Considering this friend has never been a Jr. High girl nor parented a Jr. High girl, the question seemed sincere and did not bother me. What did bother me, however, was the frequency…
I am going to die some day. That day is probably not tomorrow. Reading takes more energy than watching Netflix. I can almost forget I am sick if I am talking to someone. (Or: Just in case you were wondering, yes, I am an extrovert.) I know Renee Zellweger has lots of issues. And I…
The following is an excerpt from a sermon I preached on Matthew 17:24-27. This was the last sermon in our summer series: Who is Jesus?. I’ve always loved this quirky story, but I only recently realized how many assumptions I have made about it. Like the assumption that Jesus actually did pay the temple tax.…
Here is our call to worship for the final Sunday in our “Who is Jesus?” series: We come together this morning to worship. We come as seekers, Wondering who this Jesus is. We come as students, Full of questions about Jesus’ unconventional teachings. We come as skeptics, Unsure of Jesus’ unexplainable miracles and outlandish claims.…
Below is an excerpt from the sermon I preached last Sunday on the “I am” sayings in the Gospel of John. You can read the full text here. – – – – – – One of the most popular and–at least for some of us–uncomfortable “I am” sayings is from John 14:6: “I am the…
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