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Blow Up the Shelter (Apocalypse)
Thinking of the situation over the last few months with Menlo Church (see this article for what seems like a pretty reasonable summary), and also just the general tendency of a lot of church leaders to cover up things that might seem incriminating rather than actually search for truth and try to do the right…
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Gendered titles & getters-of-stuff-done
While reading the biblical books of Ephesians and Colossians in Greek, I have been struck by Paul’s repeated references to himself and others as διάκονος (pronounced de-ä’-ko-nos; it’s where we get the English word “deacon”): Paul says that he has become a διάκονος of the good news of God’s promise in Jesus, according to the…
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These Lines
I resonated with much of Austin Channing Brown’s recent post about “unity” to her e-mail newsletter “Roll Call.” Austin encourages her readers to be aware of ways we might be asked to participate in a kind of unity that works against justice rather than for it. You can check out the post here if you’re…
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Grace overflows into us
In a lot of translations, Ephesians 1:7-8 reads something like this: “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us” (NIV, emphasis added). When I was translating, I came up with this: “In [Christ] we have redemption through his…
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Predestination is not that interesting
Over the last couple years of studying Greek―three quarters at Fuller and then studying on my own since then―my vocabulary has reached the point where I know every word that is used at least ten times in the New Testament. So, when I translate, I tend to plug along until I come across a word…
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“White Blessings”
As Lecrae said in response to Louie Giglio’s ridiculousness, “This needs to be a time when [white evangelicals] listen and learn, and not a time when you’re leading” (see this Washington Post article about last week’s “white blessings” debacle if you need some context or aren’t sick of reading about it already). Some thoughts, in…
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Shrub Roses
While I’ve been doing blackspot battle on several of our more traditional-looking rose plants, these lovely shrub roses snuck up on me and started going wild with gorgeous bright pink blooms. Insert lesson about resilience here if you like, or about some of the most beautiful things in life being pure gift and out of…
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Solvitur Ambulando
My mom introduced me to this phrase recently, and I liked it (even though it’s not Greek), so I wrote a poem about it. Solvitur Ambulando Solvitur ambulando it is solved by walking so we walked and walked and walked until we found a better way. We walked until the blood that paved our streets…
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Late to the Vineyard
Is your eye bad because I am good? That’s a very literal translation of the second half of Matthew 20:15, which is often translated or are you envious because I am generous? (e.g. NIV, NRSV). I’m thinking about this story, which Jesus tells in Matthew 20:1-16, about several different sets of workers who end up…
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Poker, Prodder
Keeping with the theme of the recent Christian celebration of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit, juxtaposed with this reality we find ourselves in: Poker, Prodder Holy Spirit, poker, prodder, discomforter of unjust horror-filled structures and disquieter of all who profit from them, table-turner of the wrongly weighted scales that weigh color and find darkness wanting,…