Program Genny’s Introduction The journey of becoming an ecotheologian of sorts began for me through caring about people: I have a distinct memory from my first semester of coursework at Brite, where I was reading a text by Eleazar Fernandez where he asks the question: What does it mean to have hearts as large as the world? I was already …
Undone by Love: The Earth
It seems that as I think about this series more and more, I keep circling back to the question asked in the Luke 10 version of the greatest commandment story: “Who is my neighbor?” It’s a reasonable question. If we are to love our neighbor, surely we should know who that is. The answer, presented in the parable of the …
What I Meant to Say Was…
It was suggested to me that I did not make the current series clear, so I would like to do so. We will be discussing social justice issues through the lens of the ethic of love we discovered in the Gospel of John. In particular, we will be looking at how God’s love – mutual self-giving and self-revelation – deconstructs …
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
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 …
John’s Church, Our Church: Love (Program and Sermon)
Program Sermon Opening In Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe, John Boswell explains the problem with translation: “Only a naïve and ill-informed optimism assumes that any word or expression in one language can be accurately rendered in another.” This is the prelude to Boswell’s discussion of love. He makes the profound point that it’s not just the language that is confusing. …