compassion
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my gay friends
It wasn’t until I first began to grasp the full human experience of gay people (friends or otherwise) that my heart and mind began to change. It sounds trite (and I admit it now with some embarrassment), but an awareness dawned: they navigated the emotions of love and romance like anyone else, all the harder Continue reading
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what comes after?
It’s easy to believe in God, in heaven; even in hell, if you’re speaking of hell on earth. All of us have experienced both heaven and hell in this life. We’ve seen evidence of their reality here and now. But are they actual places and states of existence in the next life, the afterlife? I Continue reading
afterlife, asking, authenticity, bible, change, Christianity, church, compassion, deconstruction, empathy, eternity, evangelicalism, experience, Faith, God, Grace, growth, heaven, honesty, hope, immortality, Jesus, knowledge, learning, listening, love, openness, personal, prayer, reflections, religion, scripture, Searching, seeking, spirit, spirituality, story, Theology, Trust, truth, understanding -
the bible
Is it our salvation, a love letter, a rulebook, a guide, an instruction manual, a weapon, or just stories made up long ago? Is it true, inspired, outdated, or myth? Is it directly from or dictated by God, or only some of it, or none of it. Does it point to God, or do only Continue reading
asking, authenticity, bible, change, Christianity, church, compassion, deconstruction, empathy, evangelicalism, experience, Faith, God, Grace, growth, honesty, hope, Jesus, knowledge, learning, listening, love, openness, personal, prayer, reflections, religion, scripture, Searching, seeking, spirit, spirituality, story, Trust, truth, understanding -
prayer
Heads bowed. Eyes closed. Hands folded. Who taught us to pray this way? Would God have us pray in a spirit of formality. Or would he rather we lift our heads, open our eyes, and stretch out our hands to the mystery that reaches us. I think of the Michelangelo painting on the ceiling of Continue reading
asking, authenticity, change, Christianity, church, compassion, deconstruction, empathy, evangelicalism, experience, Faith, God, Grace, growth, honesty, hope, Jesus, knowledge, learning, listening, love, openness, personal, prayer, reflections, religion, Searching, seeking, spirit, spirituality, story, Trust, truth, understanding -
my (short) story
Now, a little about me. I think back. What led me here? There’s childhood. A well behaved pastor’s kid though my father wasn’t a pastor but something more—a praying carpenter, a spiritual giant, a minister in his own unique way. I was like him, until l wasn’t. I wanted to be like him, until I Continue reading
asking, authenticity, change, Christianity, church, compassion, empathy, evangelicalism, experience, Faith, God, Grace, growth, honesty, hope, Jesus, knowledge, learning, listening, love, openness, personal, reflections, religion, Searching, seeking, spirit, spirituality, story, Trust, truth, understanding -
anthropology as a guide to faith
In my spiritual background there was little room for creativity, understanding, or messaging outside of a straight and narrow understanding of faith. Christian worldview embodies a clear message, points us to God, is based in the Bible, is mostly black and white, and contains the “truth” of our beliefs, actions, and ways of being in Continue reading
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person over power
I see the Ravi Zachariases and Mark Driscolls and John MacArthurs of the world and know if these men were the summation of what I believed about the church, Christians, God, I would run as far as I can and never look back, except to glare. But then I avert my gaze and there’s another Continue reading
Christianity, church, compassion, Faith, freedom, God, hope, humility, injustice, Jesus, justice, leadership, love, oppression, power, reflections, religion, spirituality -
deconstruction
Listen to your brothers and sisters in deconstruction. Some have had a friend or family member struggling with faith tell them, “I don’t know if I can call myself a Christian anymore.” They don’t need us to evangelize, answer, or save them. They need empathy and compassion, not judgment and rebuke. They need ears, not Continue reading
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Week 6: seeing (part 2)
Almost two years ago, I was in Arequipa, Peru. I connected with a couple who help run a home for young Peruvians with mental and physical handicaps, most of them severe. I remember my first afternoon visiting the orphanage. Most of the individuals have severe mental handicaps. Some of them can communicate a little; many Continue reading
a kingdom built of seeds 