Tag: justice

  • What’s this dude doing? A sermon on John 2:13-22 and Jesus turning over the tables (part 1)

    Hi friends, I recently had the chance to preach a guest sermon on John 2:13-22, the passage where Jesus flips over some flippin’ tables.  Here’s the story, as the NRSV translation tells it: 13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling…

  • Where We Meet (A Lenten Devotional)

    Hi friends, Who knew that The Upper Room had a progressive side? Maybe you did; I sure didn’t.  So I was delighted when one of their folks reached out and asked if I’d like to take a look at their new Lenten devotional book: Where We Meet: A Lenten Study of Systems, Stories, and Hope.…

  • New year, new Substack

    Hi friends, Here we are, with January almost gone, and I’m not sure I’ve quite wrapped my mind around 2024 yet. But I wanted to share with you something I’m starting in this new(ish) year: a Substack! I feel like Substack is the kind of thing that’s old news to a very particular kind of…

  • The directions God is always moving (still more of a sermon on Acts 10:1-23)

    Hi friends, For a couple weeks now, with the exception of a book launch announcement (woohoo!), I’ve been sharing parts of a sermon I got to preach recently on Acts 10:1-23. The first part is here, and it’s about being open to growth and learning, even after we’ve been on a journey for a while…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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.…