Mark 8:22–26 (NIV): They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”24Continue reading “Our spiritual blindness”
Tag Archives: Church
Hacking our way to clarity
The second half of this Holy Post Podcast has an interview with Philip Yancey. They feature his latest book, which is his memoir. Yancey has been a challenging voice for me for decades. (His interview comes around 49 minutes in.) With our current struggle with terminology like “deconstruction”, Yancey represents the understanding that some formContinue reading “Hacking our way to clarity”
Our obsession with “winning”
Decades ago I remember a column or opinion piece written about our obsessions and warped values. At the time it was referring to the way we lift up people who work hard, work long hours, and don’t have time to “take it easy.” The prime example for that article was Dick Cheney (long before heContinue reading “Our obsession with “winning””
Influence
Over the years what I have always read about, heard about, and believed was Billy Graham had a way to proclaim Christ and be a friend of high powered people without having much of a political agenda. Then I came across a documentary on a Catholic priest named Theodore Hesburgh. It was unreal how heContinue reading “Influence”
We have to hold powerful people accountable
The series “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” is a devastating podcast series. It is a hard look into Mark Driscoll and the poisonous culture of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. But it needs to be told. And it needs to be heard. In my own group, the ACNA, more news comes out aboutContinue reading “We have to hold powerful people accountable”
Our continued hardness of heart
The past few years have done everything possible to crush the “eternal optimist” in me. Politics. Racial justice. Women in ministry. Sexual abuse in the church. I’m grateful that I cling to Christ. Yet, in my search for what the Church can do in Kingdom work, I continue to be crushed and disappointed. All weContinue reading “Our continued hardness of heart”
History does indeed repeat itself
Read American history, You will seelaws being pushed now, legallyby those who spurn racialized realitymirror sins of their ancestryalmost exactly the same as 1963They curse(d) and kill(ed) Black people and POCCreatively justify bigotryCalling selves Christians-oh really? — Marlena Proper Deida Graves (@MarlenaGraves) July 21, 2021
We are not yet broken
I love David French. He pulls no punches. This past week my own (new to me) denomination has been exposed for mishandling sexual abuse claims in a diocese. French highlights that to point out the ongoing problems we have in the American Church.
The church can do better
Twenty years ago the scandal of the Roman Catholic Church in Boston broke wide open with the series of stories of sexual abuse in the Boston Globe. Those revelations rippled through the Catholic Church year after year. I can remember the profound impact it had in the Twin Cities when I pastored there. Over theContinue reading “The church can do better”
Setting the world right
“… evangelism, which will flourish best if the church is giving itself to works of justice (putting things to rights in the community) and works of beauty (highlighting the glory of creation and the glory yet to be revealed): evangelism will always come as a surprise. You mean there is more? There is a newContinue reading “Setting the world right”
Apprentice 2 Jesus 