I personally believe that twenty years from now most churches will welcome gay and lesbian families, will call gay and lesbian people to live lives of faithfulness and sacrificial love in their relationship just as they call heterosexual couples to do, and that they will see the passages on same-sex attraction as reflecting cultural... Continue Reading →
Theocrats to the Right of Me, Theocrats to the Left of Me
Southern Baptist blogger Jonathan Merritt has a pretty good article about his denomination as it deals with a decline that is not unfamiliar to mainline Protestants. He offers a few ideas on how to stem the decline and the one that gets the most attention is where the he faults the SBC for mixing religion... Continue Reading →
Repost: Love, Justice, Vengence and Grace
The following is a blog post from 2007. ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun... Continue Reading →
Faith, Love and Autism
A recent post by Methodist pastor Chad Holtz got me thinking again about feelings and faith. As a kid, I was always nervous when it came to my being a Christian. I grew up in evangelical and Black Protestant churches where there was a lot of emphasis placed on emotions. I didn't understand it... Continue Reading →
Sermon: “E Pluribus Unum”
“E Pluribus Unum” Matthew 28:19-20, II Corinthians 13:11-13 May 18, 2008 (Trinity Sunday) Lake Harriet Christian Church Minneapolis, MN As some of you know and are probably well sick of me telling you, I love science-fiction. What I love about this genre is that it present modern problems in futuristic garb. And I know that... Continue Reading →
Sermon: “Waiting to Exhale”
Here's a sermon I preached in 2007 on Pentecost Sunday. “Waiting to Exhale” Act 2:1-21 May 27, 2007 (Pentecost Sunday) Lake Harriet Christian Church Minneapolis, MN When I was about two years old, I was diagnosed with asthma. From about age two until maybe age 9, I dealt with constant asthma attacks where I... Continue Reading →
Tragic Church?
An interesting meditation on the role of the tragic in life of Christian worship and in modern culture: The problem with much Christian worship in the contemporary world, Catholic and Protestant alike, is not that it is too entertaining but that it is not entertaining enough. Worship characterized by upbeat rock music, stand-up comedy, beautiful... Continue Reading →
On Holy Friendships
My thoughts these days are drifting towards relationships, or the lack thereof in churches. I've been thinking about this in light of a recent blog post on CivilPolitics.org on the dearth of cross-party friendships. The post linked to a longer article in the Chronicle of Higher Education on the issue. The author, Neil Gross notes... Continue Reading →
Being Gay at Liberty University
Last fall, I wrote a blog post about how I've come to respect social conservatives. What I've learned over time is that the view of social conservatives is not so black and white. Here's a little of what I wrote: I’ve met good Christians who are some of the nicest and honorable people and have... Continue Reading →
How A Nun and A Priest Led Me to be a Pastor
I don't know when it happened, but at some point it became fashionable among both secular and religious progressives to bash the Catholic Church for basically everything under the sun. Since the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, I've heard a number of slams against the church including that it is old-fashioned, sexist, homophobic and the... Continue Reading →
The Clockwork Pastor 