Sometimes I think Protestants have approached theology like the Bible is a big box of jigsaw puzzle pieces and if we just had enough time and patience, we’d be able to fit everything together. This is what some scholars would call a presumption of univocality. In other words, God is the ultimate author of the… Continue reading Puzzle Pieces and Bridges
Here I Go Railing At Atheists Again
One of the main reasons I started this blog is to defend our faith against both materialists and fundamentalists. Christianity is being attacked from without and within by these two camps. Today I felt a need to take up some common atheist arguments. I’ve argued against these before, but they keep coming up in various… Continue reading Here I Go Railing At Atheists Again
What is Humility?
A question I’ve received a few times is about how I chose the name of this blog. The basic answer is that humility is one of my top personal values. Almost 20 years ago I sat in a Tokyo Joe’s eating lunch while waiting for my son to get out of a summer program and… Continue reading What is Humility?
The Pastor is Just Another Member
Our church is in the middle of a pastoral call, and I spent a decent part of this year as a member of our transition team. In that role I got to survey members and aggregate their hopes and fears for the future. I also spoke with people individually about what they wanted to see… Continue reading The Pastor is Just Another Member
A Zen Heart on a Christian Path
Between the ages of say 21 and 30 or so, if you had asked me what religion I was I probably would’ve said Buddhist. I didn’t belong to a sangha or sit with a sensei. I was more attracted to it philosophically. After leaving Christianity (turns out I never really left, what I left was… Continue reading A Zen Heart on a Christian Path
On A Recent Reminder of Bonhoeffer’s Costly Grace
Because I draft my blogs about a month before I publish—an author’s convention aimed somewhat unsuccessfully at preventing embarrassment and regret from hastily penned screeds—I am writing this mere days after a failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know that I am very progressive. It won’t… Continue reading On A Recent Reminder of Bonhoeffer’s Costly Grace
Only One Who Has Failed Can Find a New Way to Win
2 Corinthians 12:9 but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. A good while ago a good friend who is also a pastor texted me… Continue reading Only One Who Has Failed Can Find a New Way to Win
Healing Our Separation from God
I am haunted by the creation story. It’s not that I believe in the literal six-day creation or even an actual place called the garden of Eden. What amazes me about the story of the garden and our fall – our original occasion for sin – is that sin is the recognition that we are… Continue reading Healing Our Separation from God
Your Christian Voting Guide
Note: I write my posts about a month prior to publishing. I point this out because this post could be seen as a response to the terrible news of the assassination attempt on Former President Donald Trump. It is not. While I condemn any violence at all, the news really changes nothing about my thoughts… Continue reading Your Christian Voting Guide
A Faintly Glimmering Radio Station
I play MusicLeague with members of my family and their friends. The Cake song, “Frank Sinatra,” made one of the playlists. It hit me hard — Cake wrote a song about how quaint Frank Sinatra records were for them and now almost 30 years later, Cake is quaint to GenZ. The chronological distance that my… Continue reading A Faintly Glimmering Radio Station