Beyond Smugness: The Beatitudes Again If we can be smug about this radical teaching of Jesus, then we demonstrate in our very smugness that we don’t get it.
Pentecost and the Blasphemy of “America First” “America First” means creation last. “America First” means God last. “America First” means the Spirit last. "America First" is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Worship, Doubt and Ascension Worship without doubt is the posture of idolatry, the faith of an ideology. True worship not only welcomes doubt, it requires doubt.
Resurrection, Jesus and Leonard Settling in either knowing or unknowing, resolving the tension of faith and doubt would have been cheap and superficial, regardless of where one landed.
Love, Knowing and the Washing of Feet It’s all about love to the very end. It’s all about a love that brings us to Holy Week. It’s all about the end of love, the telos of love. It’s all about the Lord of love, kneeling before his disciples on Thursday evening, and enthroned on a cross by Friday afternoon.
Kingdom Fruitfulness: A New Targum This is the word of truth, in a time of such ubiquitous deceit. This is the word of truth, that speaks power and life in the face of repression and death.
Romans 12&13 Remixed: A Post-Inauguration Targum Time is up for the oppressive laws of the state, so obey the law of love. Time is up for the empire, so live in the Kingdom.
La Loche, Adam and the Eventide of Joy Adam knew with Isaiah that there was something deeply wrong in our world. Adam knew that, “the earth is utterly broken, the earth is torn asunder,” and he dedicated his life to the healing of that broken world.
A Penthouse or a Stable? They have all come, either summoned or seeking an audience. In and out of Trump Tower, the rich, the powerful, the celebrities, have come to see the one who will be president.
Advent and the King without Bling Kings with bling love extravagant and vulgar display. Especially at parties for their rich and powerful friends. The servant king likes parties too. But his parties are for everyone. And the meal begins very simply with a loaf of bread and a jug of wine.
Evangelicalism as the Gates of Hell? What if the church is the Gates of Hell? What if the church in the United States is no longer raiding the gates of hell, but have easily walked in? What if the church in the United States is now so apostate, that the Gates of Hell have indeed prevailed against the church?
Celtic Soul at the End of a Very Bad Week What we have seen in the last week, and what Isaiah saw in the ruins of Israel is the failure of imagination, the inability to imagine life radically different from the status quo.
An Election Prayer: Too Late for America? It is too late to pray for this election. Is it too late to pray for the United States? Is it too late for America?
“Law and Order” and the Ten Commandments Are the ten commandments the foundation of “law and order” or its deconstruction? Are they words of repression or liberation? Do they impose a restrictive law “written in stone” as it were, or are they a call to a life of covenantal faithfulness? Do they legitimate blind and patriotic obedience to the state, or are they a radical word of revolution and civil disobedience?