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Three activities I need to help me flourish
I have undoubtedly posted this before, but I sure need this reminder I found in a journal I am about to close out. It’s from Eugene Peterson’s book, Reversed Thunder, and speaks to how we can live in the political chaos of our time. Engage in worship Listen to the proclaimed Word Practice holy living These are needed reminders as…
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Walk deeper than ever before
Russell Moore writes: The nonstop news cycle and drama won’t be some unforeseen circumstance. It’s what the American people voted for. The theory that people would want to “turn the page” on all that, offered by Vice President Kamala Harris, proved false. Turns out most people liked the drama just fine. So here we go.
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The Discipline of Confession
Michael Wear’s book, The Spirit of Our Politics, was a book we used in a book group at our church right up to the election. When the book moved from theory (what is wrong with our politics) to the practical (spiritual disciplines can help us be better in this world), we faltered.
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Personal rules for the political season
A few rules I have for the political season: Voting for the lesser of two evils is still evil. To all political candidates: “It’s my vote. You have to EARN it!” I am not entitled to your opinion, nor you to mine
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The problem of “bully” politics
What can be learned from this history? There was for many of us in the mid-2010s a profound sense that something was missing in our common life in America. Material abundance seemed, as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn warned, inextricably bound up with spiritual poverty. The false human story told by many progressives and conservatives alike in the years since Reagan, a story built…
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Jesus and the Powers, Part 7
There are governments to resist. We wrestle with the need to submit to a point and then how to resist when there are violations of conscience and crossing allegiances, but then there is a need to understand there are things to resist. The how is tricky, and it takes the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit. This isn’t about…
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Jesus and the Powers, Part 6
It’s been a week without writing mainly because I’ve been absorbing the political shooting from last week and then seeing how it might play out in the Republican National Convention. Along with that was preparation for this coming week’s book study group on Jesus and the Powers. It’s been a week of absorbing and reflecting.
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Jesus and the Powers, Part 4
In leading a discussion on this book, the first week gave me this observation for our group: they wanted detailed definitions and detailed actions. Here is the “problem” with the book (and, also, with how Jesus leads): no finite details are given. Beautifully, when it comes to “actions,” they readily admit this:
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The Kingdom of God is FOR this world
I am currently working my way through NT Wright and Michael Bird’s new book, Jesus and the Powers. It is some “prep” for this election season. More than that, it is necessary prep for how to lead in the church in a time when we face serious upheaval. We will have deep divides. The nastiness is very real. How do…
Category: Politics
