Are You A Good Neighbor?
I was flipping through the 2010 Church Signs Calendar from Andrews McMeal Publishing. The September 23 entry is “Would you want yourself as a neighbor?” It got me thinking how I don’t remember Jesus ever asking someone if they were a good neighbor.
Because They Don’t Know
“Most people simply don’t know.” (The Making of Biblical Womanhood, Beth Allison Barr, 69) When I read this at 6:15 on a Friday morning, I felt the weight of something true and in the pause to absorb that weight, the sketch of this essay appeared in my mind.
Caring for Yourself Honors God
What twisted logic have we accepted that makes us believe that we can be caregiving representatives of God but we cannot benefit from our own caregiving abilities?
Systems, Safety, and Change
My concern is that when it comes to teaching theology and doctrine, churches default to Safety First.
Embodied Learning and Church Windows
What do our churches' windows teach people about how we should think about light and darkness?
Good and Bad Fruit
Exploring implications, if the person made an honest mistake through a gap in their own education (AKA a fungus got in their fruit), then a “good tree” would apologize to you and stop recommending fruit.
Embodied Learning and Church Seating
If we preach that Christians are a family or that those in a single church are a community, what does our side by side, nose to tail seating arrangements tell us about what it means to be part of a family or community?
God’s Will: Have We Misunderstood?
What loving entity wants his son/himself to be tortured to death, even if it is for the greater good? What kind of messed up entity designs a plan for their child/themself to be tortured to death, even if it is for the greater good?
Who Uses the Liturgical Calendar?
Do all Christians follow the liturgical calendar? The question is more complicated than it first appears.
What Do the Liturgical Colors Mean?
If you weren’t raised in a Christian tradition that uses a liturgical calendar, you might wonder why it is and why it matters. Here are six quick facts about the Church calendar.
How Is the Church Year Divided?
The church calendar divides the 12-month calendar into two large parts...Each tradition may have slight variations on how they divide the church-year calendar.
What is the Liturgical Calendar?
The liturgical calendar is part of the Christian religion…Some Christian traditions that don’t consider themselves liturgical still have a church-year calendar.
Six Facts About the Liturgical Calendar
If you weren’t raised in a Christian tradition that uses a liturgical calendar, you might wonder why it is and why it matters. Here are six quick facts about the Church calendar.
Fear of Seeing
For now, let’s consider the analogy. God is light. Humans want light in their dark basements, but they want to control the light with blinds. They want to ensure they can see the light without being seen. Do they treat God the same way?
Gods of Wrath
Search the internet for “deities gods goddesses” and browse the results. Many cultures have a god or gods that need appeasing… Then we come to the Hebrew God of the Old Testament.
Literature Review: Sex & Love in the Home (McCarthy) and See Me Naked (Frykholm)
Sex and Love in the Home: A Theology of the Household by David Matzko McCarthy lives up to the word “theology.” … See Me Naked: Stories of Sexual Exile In American Christianity by Amy Frykholm lives up to the word “stories” in its title.
Book Review: Simply Good News
“What is the good news that Jesus himself announced and told his followers to announce as well (2)?” This question frames the purpose of the entire book and Wright takes readers along as he works through the question in the context of 21st-century Western Christianity.
Imagining a Third Way
Despite the usefulness of dualistic thinking in speeding up daily decision making, as beings capable of creative thought, there is also value in intentionally identifying the binary and looking for a third way.