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Super chill book review: Bittersweet (Susan Cain)
I tore through Susan Cain’s new book Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Can Make Us Whole (Crown 2022) pretty quickly. And I may have done so while referring to it as “my emo book” for short. “Delightful” may seem an odd word for a book that’s all about being sad, but I really did find…
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Switch those seats (reflections on Luke 14:1,7-14)
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do…
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The unbound woman (reflections on Luke 13:10-17)
Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set…
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Super chill book review: Sand Talk (Tyson Yunkaporta)
I read Tyson Yunkaporta’s Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World (HarperOne, 2020) a couple months ago in the midst of a several-days-long cat crisis. (Kitty is doing well now, thank you). So I may have been a bit distracted. So maybe take everything I say with an extra large grain of salt.…
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“You are a Samaritan and you have a demon” – reflections on other-ing, compassion, and discernment
The [religious leaders] answered and said to [Jesus], “Do we not speak well that you are a Samaritan and you have a demon?” -John 8:48 (my translation) Sometimes when I’m translating New Testament passages from Greek, a phrase jumps out at me like I’ve never really seen it before, even though I’m sure I’ve read…
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Super chill book review: God is a Black Woman (Christena Cleveland)
God is a Black Woman by Christena Cleveland (HarperOne, 2022)—what a book. It’s basically a mix of spot-on critiques of what Cleveland calls whitemalegod (you may know the one) and compelling explorations of what it can look like to ditch whitemalegod and seek the Sacred Black Feminine instead. I was a fan of Cleveland’s work…
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The body of Christ as spiritual fellowship
This is sermon part 3 of 3! In it I offer some thoughts on spiritual fellowship. (Here are the first two parts, on shelter and nurture.) There are also a few brief general reflections at the end. __ I don’t know if the words “spiritual fellowship” are words that most of us say on a…
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The body of Christ as nurture
This is part 2 of a sermon split into 3 parts. (The first one is here if you missed it.) The scripture passage is 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, and the theme is “shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the people of God.” This is the part reflecting on nurture: I think nurture, like shelter, can also be kind of a weird…
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The body of Christ as shelter
Two Sundays ago I got to preach at my church, Lake B, for the first time in person. The video is here if you’re interested in watching rather than reading it. I was struck by how different it is to preach in person as opposed to recording a sermon online. Among a supportive community, it’s…
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Super chill book review part 2: Jesus and John Wayne (Kristin Kobes Du Mez)
Back with part 2 of a super chill book review for Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s Jesus and John Wayne. (Part 1 is chillin over here.) A few more thoughts and quotes: 5. I appreciated Du Mez’s reflections on the blurring between the evangelical mainstream and (extra-conservative extra-patriarchal) margins. This quote made sense to me, and…