Spirituality
If the World Wants a Sign
We talk about stories a lot around here, especially the redemption stories God is writing in our lives. If you follow Pastor Jonathan Martin on Twitter, you know he has a tendency to preach spontaneous sermons 140 characters at a time that make you want to retweet every phrase. But these words from him about…
Read MoreWhy I Can't Say Love the Sinner / Hate the Sin Anymore
I thought we just needed to try harder. Maybe we needed to focus more on loving the sinner, and less on protesting his sin. But I’m done. I can’t look my gay brother in the eye anymore and say “I love the sinner but hate the sin.” I can’t keep drawing circles in the sand. Even…
Read MoreAn Anthology of Madness (A Review)
“Grace is the most magnificent force on the planet, and it is not to be reckoned with. It is intangible, yet smothering. It is the only thing which must first drown us before it can rescue us.” Max is not kind to language. While some of us smoothly layer sentences into pleasing paragraphs, Max brutally…
Read MoreWhen We Criticize One Another
We love to argue. With a thousand words and sarcastic asides and 140 characters slung around like projectiles in the air, we draw battle lines and come to blows. When I made up my unofficial resolutions at the start of this year, I included “don’t argue on the internet”. But I can’t seem to get…
Read MoreI Don't Want To Read the Bible Anymore
It started with a small complaint. A small complaint in a big parking lot with a heavy push-broom and puddles of gravel and dust. It didn’t seem fair that He was invisible. They said that He was the most important of all, but He had the nerve to stay hidden behind mystery and space. How…
Read MoreA Prayer for Memorial Day
Today we remember. We remember those who have served, who have given their lives for the freedom we so enjoy. We remember their honor, their duty, their sacrifice. We remember the families they left behind, those who have lost husbands and fathers and sons and wives and mothers and daughters. Today we pray. We pray…
Read MoreDrawing Circles in the Sand
This week the Boy Scouts of America voted to no longer exclude Scouts from their ranks “on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.” In the circles of Christianity that I often frequent, the defining mantra for interaction with the LGBT community is “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” We talk of how sex…
Read MoreThe Day I Stopped Believing in God
By then, I was already having doubts. Sitting across the table from new friends who didn’t see any reason to believe in God, I had tried to explain to them why I did and why it mattered. But this was the real world, and in the real world “because the Bible says so” doesn’t always…
Read MoreA Picture of Freedom
Earlier this week I wrote about how the internet is full of beautiful friends that we’ve never met. Caroline is one of those friends. I love this story, and I think you will too. There’s so much of what she’s written here that resonates with my own heart. It’s about everything good and beautiful in…
Read MorePrototype (An Illustrated Review)
“I believe that somewhere, somehow, you’ve heard the music. Distant or close, you’ve heard the song of your belovedness. It’s a song of unrestrained joy, a song of hope and belonging. A song that calls you into the future. Can you even imagine what it would be like to dance the dance of children, the…
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