Michael Warner, in Fear of a Queer Planet, defines queer as “resistance to the regimes of the normal.” I can’t think of a better way to describe life in God. Yet we see in our examination of these two early churches, the Jerusalem church described in Acts and the Beloved Community of the Johannine literature, an attempt to focus on …
Love and Justice (and Babies!)
It has been a hectic week with a surprise trip to Las Vegas to help take care of my new niece and nephew while their mother (my sister-in-law) recovers in the hospital after a rough delivery. She is improving and the kids are sure to be the smartest, kindest, beautifulest people the world has ever known. I’m back in town …
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 …
Free Cookies!
I will be brief this week. First, I want to thank everyone that helped out with and participated in our Holy Week and Easter activities. It’s a busy time of year in church life and we wouldn’t be able to do it without contributions from a lot of folks. Because it is a busy time of year, every minister I …
Looking For a Miracle
Tomorrow is Easter, the day that Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the day that, for many, defines what the faith is entirely about. I have to admit, I always have a little trouble making the shift from Lent to Eastertide, the season between Easter and Pentecost. Maybe I’m just a Lent kind of guy with a dark turn of …
The Prophetic Act
Last Sunday, we talked about the prophet, Jeremiah, and the circumstances under which the book that bears his name was produced. I read a lot of history, which means that my mind was packed with a lot of details, which rarely serves me well. I got into the weeds a bit, so let me see if I can narrow this …
Belief and Judgment
Last Sunday’s conversation was wide-ranging, befitting a couple of scripture passages (Ephesians 2.1-10; John 3.14-21) that are rich in meaning. Most of our dialog focused on John as it contains what is probably the most memorized verse of scripture in the Christian faith, 3.16. As I still remember it from my childhood: “For God so loved the world that He …
The Conversion of Paul
Last week we talked about the Apostle Paul. It is hard to read Paul with fresh eyes, without the jaundice of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and the Enlightenment. Through those interpreters, Paul has become more rigid, shriller, and more pedantic. It is hard to unhear all of those voices, so I have to reconstruct my apparatus for reading Paul every time …
Taking Up the Cross
Sorry about the cold last Sunday. Still learning about the building’s reaction to crazy Texas weather. So our conversation was brief, but good. I shared a little (maybe a lot) about the context of Romans. Paul is often read through the eyes of previous interpreters and, in our contemporary context, Romans is often the source of our ideas about what …
Suffering and Redemption
Because Lent is a time when we tend to talk a lot about sin, I endeavored on Sunday to explain my framework for thinking about sin. Some folks asked for a write-up, so here it is if you’re interested. The reason this alternative view is important is that sin, in the Christian mindset, is thought to be responsible for evil, …