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It May Not Be the “Form” That is Dead
In my particular tribe of Christianity, “cutting edge” is the deal. If the “form” is dead… change the form. That may not be it. It may be US. Jesus encountered opposition from the religious leaders in Mark 2 over “forms.” Jesus doesn’t toss out the forms. He recognizes how the religious leader weren’t understanding the forms. The forms weren’t dead.…
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Where Healing Dwells
Mark Chapter 2 has a series of stories that I think are summed up in Jesus’ little story of wineskins and new cloths: 21 “No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes; otherwise, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and makes a worse tear. 22 No one pours new wine into…
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God is Messed Up
We don’t like to say it in so many words. After all, he might actually exist and if that were true… he wouldn’t like it if we told him his ways were messed up. So, we go with, “The Church is messed up. Christians are messed up. Religion is messed up.” Ezekiel 18 pulls no punches. It’s not God. It’s…
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Give Up Reputation for Lent
1 After a few days, Jesus went back to Capernaum, and people heard that he was at home. 2 So many gathered that there was no longer space, not even near the door. Jesus was speaking the word to them. 3 Some people arrived, and four of them were bringing to him a man who was paralyzed. 4 They couldn’t…
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Farm Faithfulness
Trust the LORD and do good; live in the land, and farm faithfulness. (Psalm 37:3, CEB) Is your faith “farm fresh”? Our faith needs to be cultivated. It needs to be attended to. Lent is a season of reflection because we need to have times to see what God is doing. Pause. Look around. Take inventory. Our life in God…
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I Gave Up My Voice for Lent
It seems I have lost my voice. My students will rejoice if I don’t get it back soon. Even in the loss of my voice it helps me to see I don’t lose my “voice” for calling out to God. In the deepest recesses of my spirit deep still calls to deep. The Psalm yesterday was Psalm 51. The Common…
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The Hole in Our Hearts
As I understand it, C.S. Lewis wrote A Grief Observed anonymously after his wife died of cancer. It was only years later that his name was attached to the lament that he penned in his wrestling with God. Four years ago I could have done something like that… Well, not like that, because Lewis could actually write. But, our church had suffered…
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Share the Journey
Today begins the journey of Lent. I have created a page again this year to SHARE THE JOURNEY. This year I have a sense in my heart to go a slightly different direction. I am part of the Common English Bible Blog Tour this year, so when you comment on my posts, you get entered into a drawing for a…
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Ash Wednesday
1 Listen to my prayer, LORD! Because of your faithfulness, hear my requests for mercy! Because of your righteousness, answer me!2 Please don’t bring your servantto judgment, because no living thing is righteous before you. 3 The enemy is chasing me, crushing my life in the dirt, forcing me to live in the dark like those who’ve been dead forever.4…
