As preachers and stories go, we tend to pick them up all over and sometimes forget where we got them. I can’t recall the source, but one of my favorite Christmas stories is about a little church that traditionally had…
What Harvey Weinstein’s fall and Donald Trump’s rise says about the state of American Christianity
American Christianity is no different than any other religion in this way: There are healthy, potentially life enriching versions of religious faith, and there are unhealthy, potentially life diminishing versions as well.
Following Jesus is about what you do, not what you believe
All the judgment parables in Matthew (as well as all the judgment texts in Mark and Luke) have to do with fruits — the consequences of our faith, rather than the content of our faith. Does that scare you? It shouldn’t.
Read the Bible critically before you read it spiritually
My challenge to all ministers reading this piece is this: Face your fears, put in the work, and teach your people how to read scripture critically. The spiritual health and transformation of the sheep in your flock depend on it.
Biblical inspiration inspires good questions. It does not guarantee right answers
What we read in these stories are perspectives of faith by people of faith who were every bit as fallible, flawed and finite in understanding as we are.
The problems with ‘Second Coming’ theology
We don’t need more Christians to believe in some end-time cataclysmic shake-up. What we desperately need right now is more Christians to see the possibilities of Christ in glory here and now.
Why we desperately need more ‘common good’ and ‘holistic pro-life’ congregations
I suspect that most all of us now are familiar with the infamous statistic that over 80 percent of evangelical Christians voted for Trump and most of them even today continue to support him. It is very difficult to understand…
Jesus is the gate. But are there others?
In John 10:9 Jesus says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” What does it mean to say that Jesus is the gate through which one…
The scapegoat to end all scapegoating: The saving power of the cross
The scapegoat ritual practiced by ancient Israel functioned, I suppose, as a symbolical representation of the collective cleansing and forgiveness of the covenant people by God. Whether it was a healthy ritual or a toxic ritual for ancient Israel I…
It’s time to end the hands-off attitude to substitionary atonement
The nonviolent God of Jesus is incompatible with a God who makes a horrendous act of violence a divinely required act of atonement. Jesus didn’t die because God needed a sacrifice. Jesus died because the powers that be had him killed. He bore the suffering, hate and evil of the world. We are called to do the same.
On immigration the church cannot be silent
According to an Associated Press report, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, a mother of two in Phoenix, was arrested nearly a decade ago for using a false ID to get a job as a janitor at an amusement park. What would…
It’s all about love
Matthew’s Gospel offers a simple sentence summary of Jesus’ message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (or “is at hand”). Some Jesus scholars think of him as a Jewish apocalyptic prophet announcing the imminent arrival of God’s…