Thanks to the encouragement of Rachel Held Evans, some bloggers wrote last week about gender equality–particularly within the Christian church and home. One of my favorite posts is from Tony Jones who provides a pointed interpretation of Mark 3:29: “If the Holy Spirit has given the charism of preaching or teaching or pastoral care to…
Lots of people disagree with my biblical interpretation regarding homosexuality (among other things). As a pastor who has officiated a wedding for two women, I’ve had the biblical conversation many times. I told my husband this morning that I could exegete those “gay” passages in my sleep. But beyond the question of biblical interpretation, another…
“So the dove was talking?” asked one child. “No,” I replied. “That’s weird,”said another child. “I never heard of a talking dove.” “The dove wasn’t talking,” I said. “The dove came down from the sky and there was a voice from heaven.” “From the dove?” asked another child. “No,” I said. “The dove did not…
Last Saturday I was awake at 5 a.m. I didn’t want to get up, so I stayed warm under my covers and started thinking. I began making a mental outline of the sermon that I needed to write that morning. Then I started thinking about possible crafts for the February craft kit. And back and…
If you look to the right of the screen, you will notice some new links labeled “pages.” I’ve been trying to post sub-pages for my “Sermons, Etc.” page for the last few weeks, and realized they were not showing up. So the helpful support folks at WordPress told me I could change my theme or…
Here is the second post in my “Ask the Pastor” series. As a pastor of a congregation that has a public statement of full inclusion for gays and lesbians, and as a pastor who has officiated at a same-sex wedding, I have been asked (more than once) how I reconcile my views on homosexuality with…
The “blog challenge” on RevGalPals today is to write about your five favorite Bible verses. And those who have posted their responses hit on all kinds of beautiful, heart-warming, challenging, encouraging passages of scripture. I’ve appreciated being reminded of the many words of love and hope contained in the Bible. But I’ll be honest here.…
I know. I know. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). But I have to be honest. I’ve had my doubts about Paul. “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands” (Ephesians 5:22). “Women should remain silent in the churches” (1 Corinthians 14:34). “I do not…
Awhile back I heard a piece on NPR about the Harry Potter Alliance. It’s a group of fans who come together around various philanthropic and social justice issues. They sent five cargo planes full of supplies to Haiti after the earthquake. They’ve campaigned on behalf of marriage equality and genocide prevention. They’ve stocked libraries in…
The New International Version is the Bible translation of choice for English-speaking evangelicals. So you might be surprised to learn that the 2002 “update” of the translation chose to use gender-neutral language for humanity. And you might not be surprised to learn that this proved to be a marketing disaster. The translation committee will not…
Spacious Faith 