-
Take me to the alley
My wife and I were talking with some friends recently and music came up. Jazz was a prominent topic and our friends started throwing out names. I began looking them up and playing them on Spotify. One that came up in the context of religion and spiritually and jazz was Gregory Porter. This song was named and we listened to…
-
Who was the neighbor
As I make my way through the end of the year in the daily readings, I am struck over and over by what IS in the Gospel and by what is NOT. The parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 strikes that chord yet again. What is it to have eternal life? It is to love God and love…
-
Get out of the way
As I go through 1 Timothy 3 again, there are a couple of quick notes: I am working on making a case for women in ministry that show Paul is TRUE to calling for women IN ministry. It’s something I’ve always held to, but I want to use “THE” passage men often use to withhold ministry from women to demonstrate…
-
Do I TRULY believe the Gospel?
2 Corinthians 5:16–17 (NIV)16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! This is Paul’s appeal:
-
Deceived by darkness
34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. (Luke 11:34-35, NIV)
-
The image bearers and a broken creation
We are reading through Lisa Sharon Harper’s excellent book The Very Good Gospel in a small group at our church for Lent. It is a powerful book focusing on the broken relationships we see all around and the longing to restore shalom in the world. One example: When we deprive people of the ability to exercise dominion (agency) and then…
-
The Gospel and “Defund the Police”
One of the mantras conservative white Christians have decided to “debunk” so we can get back to our safety bunkers is “Defund the Police.” It really caught our attention after the murder of George Floyd.
-
Where am I found?
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 On hearing…
-
Book Review — The Very Good Gospel
The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right by Lisa Sharon Harper My rating: 5 of 5 stars Lisa Sharon Harper has one of the best calls to “SHALOM” I’ve read in quite some time. She is in the vein of Walter Brueggemann, who writes the introduction for her book. Harper tackles the issue of the depth…
Tag: Gospel
