Fascism has arrived in the United States, and I refuse to be complicit. If I sound like an alarmist to you, it is because we are in a five-alarm fire right now. I’d like to thank David Artman for turning me on to Jason Stanley’s book, “How Fascism Works,” and helping all of us Jesus… Continue reading The Time For Christians to Fight Fascism is Right Now
Just Do It
I’m thinking a lot about the cross lately. The obvious reason is that we are entering Holy Week. One of my best friends built a 12-foot, 350 pound cross with his father that we hang from our church rafters each Lenten season. It’s ruggedly beautiful, inspires deep contemplation and is impossible to ignore. It reminds… Continue reading Just Do It
Too Much Politics?
Lately I’ve heard rumblings about how mainline pastors are talking too much about politics. I must be reading and listening to a different set of pastors – and these days you have an overwhelming wealth of options online to choose from – but I don’t hear outright political messages. I hear messages against the cruelty… Continue reading Too Much Politics?
God and Mind
I’ve been blessed by two very smart sons, one of whom has been engaging me on philosophy of mind over the last month or so. Through these discussions, I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking through what I really believe about consciousness. I come at it with a trio of prejudices. First, my faith… Continue reading God and Mind
Is There Knowledge in the Most High?
I’d love for you to take a deep breath right now. The world has lost its mind. But this is nothing new. In fact, after that deep breath and before you proceed to read below, I’d like you to read Psalm 73. Didn’t that feel like it could’ve been written this week? The world has… Continue reading Is There Knowledge in the Most High?
Finding Forgiveness Through Empathy and Humility
We’ve entered special time in America under the Trump regime. It’s a time of complete regression as those in power seek to set us back by decades in terms of social justice, environmental protections and civil rights. It’s a time of despair as we see all three branches of government acting together to erode democratic… Continue reading Finding Forgiveness Through Empathy and Humility
There are No Immigrants on Earth
I recently wrote about how I believe the Bible fully supports inclusion for transgender people. I used Isaiah 56 as support. In this chapter, God commands Israel to welcome the foreigner and the eunuch into temple worship. Because transgendered people are under attack right now, I spent the majority of the article writing about them.… Continue reading There are No Immigrants on Earth
The Bible Directly Supports Full Transgender Inclusion
It’s always interesting to me how much emphasis some people put on the stories in Genesis. Now please understand, there are great lessons there. I’m not minimizing Genesis in this post, I’m trying to elevate what I see is an arc in the Christian story. It’s an arc that in many places – especially when… Continue reading The Bible Directly Supports Full Transgender Inclusion
What An Atheist Friend Taught Me About Church
I recently wrote some simple thoughts about Christian universalism and mentioned that a question I get a lot when I share my universalist beliefs is, “then why even be a Christian?” That always strikes me as strange and transactional, but the fact that I get this question from both believers and secularists makes me think… Continue reading What An Atheist Friend Taught Me About Church
Beyond Judgement
I’m often surprised how many protests I get from my atheist friends about Christianity that I can effectively deactivate by just saying, “I’m a universalist so I don’t think that.” I write, “deactivate,” instead of, “answer,” because I don’t think many theological questions can be definitively answered with pithy responses. It takes a lifetime of… Continue reading Beyond Judgement