Musings on Faith, Culture and ADHD
Joshua 24:1-25 Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time October 12, 2014 First Christian Church Mahtomedi, MN Listen to the sermon Every presidential election is always kind of a silly season in America. People hear what a candidate says and it becomes fodder for the opposing side for weeks. Certain phrases enter the body politic and... Continue Reading →
One of the things that Progressive Christians like to say about themselves is how welcoming and tolerant they are. Compared to their more conservative cousins, progressives can pride themselves in being able to think for themselves and to have a place where all ideas and beliefs can be shared without fear. Why, your progressive church... Continue Reading →
I really like Lillian Daniel. Really. Why, you ask? Because in 2011 she said something that many mainline Christians have been thinking, but were too afraid to say outloud. In 2011 Daniel wrote an article with the very provocative title: "Spiritual, But Not Religious? Please Stop Boring Me." If you think this was a rant,... Continue Reading →
Interesting read: One of the places where America began to become theologically illiterate was an odd one: Sunday school. I believe the introduction of Sunday schools truly has caused the American church to know less about what they believe. Read the whole thing. He's not saying we should junk Sunday School, but he shows how it... Continue Reading →
I'm not going to get into the specifics of the whole Komen controversy because its been done ad nausem. But I do have one question: where should the Church be in all this? The whole mess concerning the two groups was one more annoying incident in the culture wars. Each side, including many a Christian,... Continue Reading →
One thing that I've noticed over the years is that mainline Protestants don't seem to take God very personally. Growing up as I did in the evangelical world, God and Jesus was up close and personal. A lot of the songs we sung in college intentionally changed the words of some songs from something like,... Continue Reading →
Presbyterian Pastor John Vest wonders if we need to rethink what it means to be active in a faith community: As a downtown church that draws on individuals and families from all around the Chicagoland area, our youth ministry has always faced some interesting challenges. Our youth come from a variety of schools, so creating... Continue Reading →
From February of this year. I'd love to find out what other people think about this. Via Scott McKnight, I came upon this blog post by Richard Beck about how Facebook is killing the church. Yes, you heard me: Facebook is killing the church. The difference between Generations X and Y isn't in their views... Continue Reading →
Disciples like to call that thing that's up front in the sanctuary a table. Lutherans used to call it an altar, but more and more they've started following us and calling it a table. Far more humble and fitting in my view. Disciples Pastor Lee Yates reminds us that the Table reveals who we really... Continue Reading →
I'm starting a new Sunday School class at First Christian that's called Super Simple Sunday School. It's basically morning devotions/morning prayer. The class goes a bit like this: We read one of that Sunday's lectionary text. We have a brief discussion of the text. We share prayer concerns. We pray. We leave. That's it. The... Continue Reading →
The Clockwork Pastor 