As someone whose faith tradition lacks much in the way of a liturgical year, I am drawn to the Jewish holidays. They are, after all, the ones set forth in the Bible. Extreme Protestantism leaves one a bit bereft… we don’t do Lent or Advent or Saint’s Days. Easter and Christmas, that’s it. (I have…
Category: Life in Christ
Leaving Laodicea
Coming October 1, 2023 Laodicea is a worldview that values the rat-race over connection. It’s a physical location that makes it hard to participate in community even if we want to. Laodicea has its hooks in all of us. We know that what we’re doing isn’t working. We read the statistics about loneliness being more…
Mearcstapas
I just finished reading a book by Makoto Fujimura, “Culture Care“. It’s one of those books chock full of things you were just about to say and hadn’t said yet. It’s also full of ideas and concepts that help shape how I think of myself and my role in the world. Fujimura is excellent at…
God was never meant to be used as a means to an end
I’ve been reading old books again… and it’s struck me that this thing that we think of as new, where Christianity is valued primarily as a civilizing force, is far from new. Because a relationship with Christ will make you a better person, and a nation full of better people will become a better place…
Piety vs. Propriety
Piety and propriety hang about together so much that they’re often confused for one another – but they are not the same, and while piety can produce propriety, the reverse is rarely true. The pious person, because of their relationship with the Holy Spirit, lives in such a state that none can put a law…
Order of Operations
The paradigm in Christendom for the past thousand years has been to make folks have a “Christian” life on the outside in order to encourage them to accept Christ on the inside. I’m going to be silent on the efficacy of that approach – I’m not God, and He’s the judge. However, excepting a brave…
Virtue or Blessing?
It would be useful if we could differentiate between the virtue inherent in our choices vs. our blessings. I keep having the conversation with friends who don’t want to say that they’re intelligent so as not to be prideful. That, IMO, is as silly as denying how tall you are. It is good to be…
The Odor of a Faraway Land
In my proposal that we embrace our citizenship in another Land, I am suggesting that we bring the odor of that land with us so long as we live in this one. In dancing to the music of a far-off land, perhaps we can create a curiosity that will draw others into the Wedding Party….
So much to do, so few hands
Christendom, particularly feminine Christendom, suffers from the problem of too much to do and not enough people to do it. The truth is, this world is fallen. Likewise, truth is that there is always going to be more work to be done than can get done. Truth is, God calls us to do good works…
Letting Ourselves Be Real
I just finished an amazing book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. One of the quotes that hit me between the teeth was: “The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship…