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Holy Trinity Sunday
We are on a short vacation in Pensacola, FL with some great friends and our oldest son and daughter-in-law. When away from my church I love other church traditions. What a joy to be at a very old Episcopal Church on Holy Trinity Sunday. The liturgy was beautiful and the surroundings were gorgeous. The focus on the doctrine of the…
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The need of the Church
The need of the Church is not some cleansing to make sure we have some very strict doctrinal stance memorized perfectly. Doctrine is important. Teaching is vital. Memorizing something to sound absolutely correct and then demanding that precision accuracy of everyone else is not healthy. The need of the Church is not beating our one issue social concern drums. Either…
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Real persecution actually exists
It is my hope that the following statement offends just about everyone who regularly reads my blog, because I have something BEYOND that to which we need our attention drawn: For evangelical Christians and gay rights folks in America, here is the stark truth: none of us know persecution. The current broohaha over the Arizona bill concerning businesses and serving gays…
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Anchor of our soul
We need the tie of generations in the faith because each generation can demonstration the depth of faith that is possible. We can observe that in the generations that came before. We can learn from them. When we demonstrate the depth of faith, a faith that cannot be shaken, and demonstrate the faithfulness of God, we can then explain that to the next…
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Moving forward
For my denomination it seems so long compared to other groups, but we’re making some nice steps. For our own (small) church we are seeing two women go through the ordination process. I am excited for the ground they are helping to break. I am thankful they are ministers with me in our church. We have a long way to…
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I dream of a day when we quit ranking sins
It’s not about particular sins. It’s about SIN. It’s about our rebellion against God. It’s about our desire to be our own little gods. But when we are in our own little rebellions, we feel better about pointing out someone else’s “worse” sin. I pray for the day, just in my own life, when I’m done to ranking sin. 9 So what…
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When we don’t trust the unity that is in Christ
When we don’t trust the unity that is in Christ, we default into manipulation. We manipulate through legalism or hyper-spirituality. We need to trust the One in whom all things hold together. 16 So don’t let anyone judge you about eating or drinking or about a festival, a new moon observance, or sabbaths. 17 These religious practices are only a shadow of…
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The ugliness of human trafficking
Our subject matter in our church today was heavy. We had a couple come in and talk to us about human trafficking. I then see this article posted tonight. The U.S. is in the top 5 in human trafficking. We probably have more people bound in sexual slavery in the U.S. today than we had numbers of slaves at the…
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The training of pastors
Pope Francis made some very pointed remarks about the need to train new priests. Some of his comments are so needed in our training of pastors in protestant circles as well: “Formation (of future priests) is a work of art, not a police action. We must form their hearts. Otherwise we are creating little monsters. And then these little monsters…
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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…
Category: Church
