I am a Baptist, but I went to a Methodist seminary, so I have many professors and colleagues, people I count as friends, in the thick of things this week. Church in the Cliff is an affirming congregation; we definitely have feelings about the relationship between the Church and queer folx. So, while I’m not in the thick of things, …
Welcome to the New Life
We had a great time at Oak Cliff Earth Day handing out free cookies. Thanks to everyone who baked and helped prepare and set up and tear down and everyone who just came and hung out at the booth. I love that we have such meaningful (and not so meaningful) conversation no matter where we are and have so much …
Undone by Love: The Redoing
Before I moved to Dallas, I was a manager in the Information Systems department of a medium-sized company that owned funeral homes and cemeteries. Yes, even funeral homes have information systems. And, yes, I was a nerd. The part of my job that I liked the most was facilitating groups of people in a software design process. I got to …
Undone by Love (Program and Sermon)
Program Sermon Every so often, someone comes forward with proclamations of doom for America. Whether it’s Carle Zimmerman in 1947, Francis Schaeffer in 1975, or William Bennett in 2003, they see themselves as prophets pointing us back to an ideal time that has passed us by, an ideal place we seem unable to still find. We have lost our way, …
Undone by Love
The series we just finished examined John’s ethic of love as a guide for how our church might understand itself. John’s ethic of love is aimed largely in toward the community from which the Gospel arose. Although John’s scope is the world (“so that the world may believe,” John 17:21), it intends to draw the world in (“come and see,” …
John’s Church, Our Church: Oneness (Program and Sermon)
Program Sermon At the beginning of this series, I made an apology. Normally, we use the inclusive text for our Scripture readings, but I chose to use the NRSV for this series. The reasoning was that John is very careful about language and the inclusive text sometimes obscures it. The downside is that we hear God constantly referred to in …
John’s Church, Our Church: Oneness
I have to admit, I’ve been nervous about this week ever since we decided to do this series. Talking about oneness is hard. John is very clear that being one with God and one with each other is the task of being a Christian. Much of Paul’s writings show a similar concern. And so it should not be surprising that …
John’s Church, Our Church: Friends (Program and Sermon)
Program Sermon Opening This week, Lisa and I celebrated our 19th anniversary. Over the years, people have occasionally asked me how a marriage lasts, why ours works. Sometimes people assume that there is some trick, like never going to bed angry or saying “I love you” at least once a day. That may be good advice that we follow more …
John’s Church, Our Church: Friends
In a world of social networks, the word “friend” gets thrown around a little too easily. With a simple mouse-click, we can become “friends.” We’ve even made it into a verb, an action that only exists in virtual space. But we weren’t the first to do this. Many languages, including Greek, have strong semantic relationships between verbs and nouns. Jesus …
What I Meant to Say Was…
On Sunday, I was highly critical of Robert Jeffress, the pastor of First Baptist Dallas, as well as others of his ilk that are famous for their criticism of homosexuality. You can read my comments here, but the main point was that any ethical stance must risk something. This follows from Jesus’ claim in John 15:13: “No one has greater …