When Martin Luther wrote, “Love God and sin boldly,” he was not in a fast food restaurant, but he could have been. Luther was inviting us to recognize what is important and what is not. There are times when you should order the salad, but sinning a little without worrying about it too much may, on occasion, be good for your soul.
Courageous conversations are no longer optional. It’s time to cross boundaries.
We’re going to have to do more, to move past talking (even preaching!) and into the messy and painful work of deep conversation held together by real relationship. In fact, it’s increasingly my conviction that this may be the heart of the faith community’s work in this moment: building authentic relationships upon which these difficult conversations can rest.
Sin? Of course. Depravity? Not so much.
Amy and I led a retreat for a wonderful Presbyterian church this weekend. The response to our leadership and the session material was excellent — though my wife scolded me for throwing John Calvin under the bus in one of…
What judgmental Christians and playboy Olympic swimmers have in common
When we allow judgmental individuals to set the ministry agenda in our churches, or dominate the air-time of our congregational energy, we surrender the church’s ability to be a conduit of God’s grace in the world. We put grace on the backburner.
Hard sayings, unexpected grace
By Bill Leonard Fifty years ago my parents got divorced after almost 30 years of marriage. A decade or so later, my dad remarried, this time to a “widow woman,” as Southerners say, whom he’d known since childhood. They remained…
Exploring the human condition in ‘Ex Machina’
Using the concept of artificial intelligence, Ex Machina speaks to the question of whether a robot can be human. Yet, beyond the robotic character there are questions about humans and how they relate to each other and how those relationships…
“Surely not me”: The death of Jesus and corporate sin
Last night, Jesus once again gathered with his disciples, washed our feet and called us to love, and then shared the unthinkable news that he would be handed over by one of his own. No sooner did the words come…
At Lent: Sin, evil and us
By Bill Leonard On Feb. 10, 2015, three Muslim students at UNC-Chapel Hill — a married couple and her sister — were shot by one of the “neighbors” in their apartment complex. The New York Times reported: “The victims’ families…
Truly knowing people simultaneously clears and blurs your vision
This subject, about which I have thought for many years, was stimulated by a recent Pew Research Center study referenced in an article entitled Americans Are More Likely to Like Muslims if They Know One. The research report from Pew…