One of the things that keep me excited about the Bible is its capacity to surprise us.
For instance, I’ve just finished teaching this year’s Bible Study at my church. In a course I titled “Who Do You Say I Am?” we worked on the four gospels, listening to the testimony of…..
When I had to select a domain name for my blog, “Christian Middle” immediately sprang to mind. I wanted my blog to speak – not only in opposition to the excesses of the religious right and left – but also in a voice of conciliation.
Nearly two years later, I find the landscape…..
Humans have always had cultural blind spots. In ancient times, every people approached outsiders with suspicion. Even in English we see the remnants of this thinking that “strangers” are “strange.”
Generally, humans gravitate towards others they consider like themselves, eschewing anyone whose difference is off-putting: be it…..
We’re familiar with the expression “Love is blind” referring to romantic love’s inclination to see no faults in one’s beloved. But, in truth, all our emotions have the tendency to cloud our judgment and create spiritual blind spots. How often does our anger over past wrongs inhibit our ability…..
Part of learning how to drive involves recognizing blind spots. You need to know where they are and when you need to check them to avoid a collision with a car you simply can’t see within your normal range of vision.
We have spiritual blind spots, too, and…..
Though it amazes us when God spins the straw of sin into the gold of redemption, we have to guard against this point getting twisted. On the one hand, Paul reminds us: “Some people are actually trying to put such words in our mouths, claiming that we go around saying, ‘The more evil we do, the more…..
At times, people have asked me, “Why would anyone found a religion on someone’s especially gruesome murder? If Jesus were really God’s Son, why would God force Him to face and suffer such a painful, ignominious death – especially if He always had the power to avoid it?” This reality was dire…..
We all know the headline of Easter: Christ is risen! I wonder if people who show up in church just for Easter are looking simply to be reminded of the good news that we can go to heaven when we die.
But the message of Easter is more nuanced than that. When someone you love…..
Last week I posed the question: Why do people come to church for Easter and then not return?
I noted Easter represents a complicated story – not one you can fully appreciate from the scripture reading or sermon you’d hear in a single Easter worship service. But the story itself…..
I’m betting your church, like mine, was full this past Sunday. I’m sure the music was amazing and your pastor/priest gave a stirring sermon/homily specially designed to reach the people who were there only because it was Easter.
You’ve heard of “C & E” Christians – those who only come…..