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Nice Churchy Patriarchy launches today!
Hi friends, It’s today!!! I can’t believe this book is finally out there in the world. A man told me recently – unasked, of course – that publishing a book is like giving birth but harder. This struck me as a confusing mix of kind of funny but also highly offensive to all humans who…
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What are you currently learning? (Part of) a sermon on Acts 10:1-23
Hi friends, I recently got to preach at my church on Acts 10:1-23. Peter and Cornelius, what a story. I’d encourage you to take a look at the passage here. The church service is also recorded here (and the sermon starts here around 56:53). The way I see it, there are three main thoughts that…
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Two weeks until book launch!
Hi friends, It feels like a bit of a strange time to be launching a book into the world. By which I mean, it’s a strange thing to hold all of the pain and grief and oppression of our world—and especially, currently, of the Palestinian people—while also holding the goodness and joy, the things to…
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What exactly broke the world? Reflections on Fortune by Lisa Sharon Harper
Hi friends, Something I love about Lisa Sharon Harper’s recent-ish book Fortune is that it raises—and then unpacks—this question: What exactly broke our world? I think this is a crucial question. But it’s not always one that we talk about—at least not with nearly enough specificity. In my experience in Christian circles, in particular, people…
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Reflections on (the beginnings of) a podcasting journey
Hi friends, These days I’ve been spending a fair amount of time reaching out to podcasters to see if they’d like to talk with me about Nice Churchy Patriarchy. I’ve been pleasantly surprised, so far, to find that a) people say yes! and b) being a guest on podcasts is a bit more fun than…
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ISO worship music that doesn’t make me cranky
Hi friends, I have a confession: Christian worship music often makes me cranky. I don’t know if this is actually a confession. As in, I don’t know that I’m really ashamed of it or feel like it’s a bad thing. After all, there are plenty of good reasons to feel cranky about Christian music. For…
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Prayers and more prayers, because that’s where we’re at
Hi friends, I had queued up a post reflecting about how (most) Christian music drives me bonkers, and pondering how we might do better. But then this week happened. The violence in/around Gaza has been a lot. And so have all the opinions and shouting matches all over the internet regarding how we should or…
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All the authority issues: reflections on a year of Patheos blogs
Hi friends, I recently concluded an almost-year’s worth of weekly-ish blogging with Patheos. I wanted to try to sum up the journey here—including lots of links, in case there are posts you haven’t seen yet but want to check out. Lots and lots of links. You’ve been warned. After kicking off the blog with some…
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If love conflicts with our politics, let’s change our politics
Hi friends, I don’t often seek out Christianity Today articles, but sometimes people bring them to my attention. And sometimes I have some feelings and thoughts about them that feel worth sharing. For instance: this recent piece about a West Texas pastor who shelters migrants, despite holding generally Republican stances on immigration. It’s so complicated.…
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The gifts no one wants to receive (reflections on a Kirkus Review)
Hi friends, A few weeks back, I submitted my book manuscript (Nice Churchy Patriarchy) to Kirkus Reviews. When I saw last week that their review was ready, I was a little nervous to take a look. Apparently they have a reputation for being “unsparing.” (The good news is that once you receive your review, you…