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Holy Thursday
All authority was handed over to Jesus. To demonstrate all that power… Jesus served. Lord, help me pick up this “mantle” in my own life. Not just today. Every day. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the…
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When you can’t even read the Constitution
I clearly hesitate to wade into arguments and battles that just can’t have any resolution in a public forum. They are also discussions I thoroughly like having in small groups or with individuals. But when an argument is so poor that it causes me to almost throw my computer across a room, I need to say at least SOMETHING on…
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Politics and the Kingdom of God
It is good timing that has me reading NT Wright’s Surprised by Scripture the same week the news is exploding from a new Indiana law regarding discrimination and religious rights. Wright’s chapter, “Our Politics Are Too Small” is powerful. Some thoughts: “…martyrdom (which is what happens when the church bears witness to God’s call to the rulers and the rulers…
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Famous last words
I am preaching on the last word of Christ at the Friday Good Friday service in our community. I am looking at “famous last words” of people. This one is my favorite.
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It’s a new day
The proclamation of the good news includes so many things. It IS about Christ coming to die for our sins. It IS about what Jesus has done for us in his sacrifice and resurrection. And… it is more. It is his rule and his reign that has come. It’s not your “normal” king, but he IS king nonetheless and his coming has immense implications. Not…
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Not so smart criminal of the day
A drug ring gets busted in St. Paul, MN because customers finally notice a local pizza parlor didn’t seem to be open very much. And then there’s this: “On August 19, 2014, a concerned citizen made a report with the St. Paul Police Department that Papa Dimitri’s Classic Pizza and Ice Cream located at 466 Hamline Avenue South … is…
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Why is it simply good news?
The good news of the Kingdom is quite simple. We’ve complicated it, or we’ve tried to reduce it to the wrong simple phrase. John’s gospel brings the simplicity of the proclamation of good news: Now is the time for judgment of this world. Now this world’s ruler will be thrown out. (John 12:31) The King has come. He wins. This…
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Morning joe
Some fun humor to start the day. Political humor: If 67-year-old rural white men were the future of the electorate, the G.O.P. would be rolling. — David Brooks, New York Times (Of course, there is a group this will NOT find this funny…) And some morning joe humor:
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Somehow we’ve turned the good news into bad news
In Simply Good News, Wright goes into far more detail as to how we’ve managed to distort the announcement of the good news of the Kingdom into one of an angry God and simple fragments of a much fuller truth. It is well worth the time to read through his fuller treatment of how we have gone from proclaiming the good news to offering…
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It is simply good news
I am starting into NT Wright’s book, Simply Good News: Why the Gospel is News and What Makes It Good. As usual with Wright at this point in my life, it is refreshing reading. Wright has done such a marvelous job of paring down issues over time. He can be as complicated as the next scholar. Here, he keeps it basic.…
