My devotional scripture reading for this morning was Matthew 11: 28-30: ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.…
I’ve added my sermon from Palm Sunday 2009 to my “Pages” (on the right hand side bar). The main point is that we try to make Jesus into the savior we want, thus depriving ourselves of the fullness of Christ’s salvation.
On March 24, 1980, Salvadoran Catholic priest Oscar Romero was shot and killed while celebrating mass. Following Jesus had led Romero to speak out against the abuses of the Salvadoran elite and to work for the rights of the people of El Salvador. These prophetic words and actions led many powerful people to perceive him…
I attended a preaching workshop at First Baptist Church here in Lawrence yesterday. The kind American Baptist folks let me hang out with them and learn from them for awhile. (Thanks!) Something one of the presenters, Matt Sturtevant, asked has particularly stuck in my head: As preachers, are we answering the questions our people are…
This weekend I took my 12-year-old daughter to see Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. And I have to say that I just don’t get it. I mean, I get that Justin is cute–if you’re twelve. And I get that he has a good singing voice. And I get that he has a pretty amazing stage…
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 