Category: Living Our Faith

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

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

I was grumpy in Bible study this week. I didn’t know why. Something was nagging at me about the lectionary gospel reading (I’m quoting a bit longer here than the lectionary text because I think the whole story is important): Luke 4:16-30 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went… Continue reading Make Them Run You to the Cliffs

As we enter a new year, I don’t think I’m alone as I obsessively scrutinize the widening gulf between the views of the right wing in the U.S. and the teachings of Jesus. On the one hand, I’m pretty sure it will provide a lot of blog fodder for me this year and beyond. On… Continue reading Responding with Love and Compassion

Imagine this: you are born into the Roman Empire in the year zero. Oppression is everywhere. You smell it in the marketplace. You see it on the tired expressions of the friends around you. You hear it in the clamor of armor on the soldiers marching through your streets. Every day, the threat of violence… Continue reading The Humble Birth of God

So many of my favorite things about Christmas come from church tradition and not strictly speaking from the Bible. I think that should tell us something about our wider faith. Your Christian faith didn’t stop with the canonization of the Bible, it continued to evolve over centuries of thought, debate and tradition and it should… Continue reading A Very Unbiblical Christmas

”I just hugged the man who murdered my son.” — Mary Johnson In 1993, Mary Johnson’s 16-year-old son, Larami, was shot and killed by Oshea Israel during a robbery. The tragedy devastated Mary and left her grappling with immense grief and anger. Years later, after Oshea had served time in prison, Mary made the courageous… Continue reading Playing God Instead of Imitating God

Who needs this reminder? Probably everybody. Almost everyone I know is walking around nervous, fearful, wringing their hands, checking the polls every five minutes, and just generally concerned about the upcoming election. My personal opinion is that one side of the country actually represents an existential threat to democracy. If you read my blog, it… Continue reading Important Election Reminder: God’s Got This

Proverbs 19:21 The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.” Sometimes I look at the options in my life and they seem like a dot-to-dot puzzle with no numbers to guide me. Just an endless sea of dots, a swarm of options and no… Continue reading Connecting the Dots