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Why, yes, I DO love this pope
Not being Catholic has never kept me from admiring good leadership. And this pope has such a pastoral heart. “Evangelii Gaudium” (The Joy of the Gospel) was released by the pope today. I have downloaded it, but here are some choice thoughts: “The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born…
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The end is near! Or… A revival is coming!
Two very different takes on just how Christianity is “doing” in different parts of the world show our tendency toward tribalism. In the Middle East there are dire warnings of Christianity becoming extinct in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Manhattan seems to be on the verge of a new revival! So, which is it? As Anthony Bradley points out on the Manhattan side…
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The Church That Ate Its Own
We really like this stuff. (I was so tempted to say, “We really eat this up.“) Tales from the crypt about horrible church experiences. Bad church. BAD CHURCH! And we shake our all too righteous fingers at it like it’s a dog that just wet the carpet. But… it makes headlines… and we eat it up. (Sorry. The metaphor is too good.) Write…
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When the saints come marching in
I grew up in a very fundamental Assemblies of God church. I have no bitter stories to tell. I have no scarred past… tattoos… rebellious drug-induced stories… I have good memories. For all the good, the bad, and the ugly, I have fond memories. What I remember most fondly is great preaching and the old gospel songs. Today we rip…
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All Saints Day
They’re not all Catholic, or Orthodox, in the traditional sense, but I remember these saints in my life: Anthony, desert monk. He teaches me to pray and persevere and take on the enemy with tenacity. Francis of Assisi. He teaches me to keep radically depending on God. Theresa of Avila. She teaches me the immense love of the Savior that…
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This is what we do
The power of the Kingdom of God can have an impact in so many ways. The kingdom is seen in a store line. Last night at Target as we were checking out, a man in the express lane was buying milk. Something with his transaction didn’t work. A young couple behind him noticed he couldn’t pay right then so the…
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Protestant Saints
Andy Crouch has a piece in the Wall Street Journal on saints, and they’re not just for Catholics anymore. We all have our favorites. We just don’t call them saints. My patron saint will be Dallas Willard.
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We will, quite simply, change your mind
It thought of that line in relation to how I want us to live as believers. It is too easy to get caught up in the blogosphere, the media, entertainment, etc., and form our opinions. There are some incredibly strong opinions about the church, and those with any measure of angst blog about it. The ones with real angst get the media…
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We get torn apart by our terminology
Richard Stearns, head of World Vision, wrote a response on a perceived attack on the term “radical Christians.” This was in response to a Christianity Today piece on the “new radicals.” Stearns’s response is basic: “Yep, we’re radical, and we’re not radical enough!” It’s gone back and forth in a way that reminds me of the days when my “tribe” (Pentecostals) were…
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Race and Fear
I’ve written very little on the matter of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman because it’s far too complex to button hole either person into the extremes I read about every day online. But this article had some thoughts I resonated with. This thought in particular: Fear is not a complex human emotion—it’s a primal one. It originates from the most…
Category: Church Life
