Tag: Life
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DMX and the Ballad of the Brokenhearted
Have you ever looked into the eyes of someone who has been truly brokenhearted? Perhaps you have and they were your very own eyes? If you have, then you’ll likely agree with me that despite what romantic entertainment will have you believe, there are relatively few people who have been completely brokenhearted. To give you…
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That Old Rugged Cross
A stumbling block. An Offense. A curse. These are all words used to describe the cross of Jesus that we find ourselves contemplating. The Roman Cross, one of the most inhumane instruments of death ever conceived. Jesus, a teacher of wisdom and love who traveled through communities blessing and loving, healing and holding, cherishing and…
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When God Shows Up
How do you explain the inexplicable? How do you see the Unseen? How do you teach about the Unknown? These are questions that go through my head on a weekly basis serving as a minister. I guess the short answer to all of those questions is faith. But what exactly is faith? In Hebrews 11,…
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Homelessness as an Indicator of Our Society’s Priorities
“They put all of society’s problems on us. They make money from criminalizing us. Every time they lock us up, money goes into someone’s pockets. That’s why they are making it so hard for things to get better.” – Known Unknown It’s been nearly two years since I heard the above words and yet I…
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All I Owe You is Everything
Love for One Another (Romans 13) 8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your…
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Christ Is A Demonstrable Verb
Lately I don’t feel that comfortable in my skin. And that is a good thing. In some ways, I feel like what I imagine a butterfly or moth must experience when they are making their way out of their cocoon or chrysalis. I’m trying to spread my wings, but I am coming up against some…
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Trading My Religion for a Cross and a Commandment
A couple of days ago I responded to an online discussion question that compared religiosity and righteousness. Honestly, I rarely comment on these kinds of questions because I don’t have much interest in having someone call me a socialist or something just because of how I interpret certain teachings from scripture about what it means…
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Don’t Let Death Get In the Way
How Would You Live if You Knew You Couldn’t Die? Death is so annoying. That’s how I feel about it right now. It is annoying, because for so many of us, the fear of it is a distorting filter that obscures our ability to live a true life or to relate to others who are…
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Withholding Kindness Causes Harm
On the other side of all of the limitations that we accept for ourselves and project onto others is an awareness that each and everyone of us has the potential to be a greater contribution to the world than we might know. Conditioned by the illusion that there are some of us who are worthy…
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The True You Knows What Leads to Happiness
The true you knows what leads to happiness. In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet is told that God knew him before he was ever formed in his mother’s womb and had consecrated him as a prophet. Even though I said that identity is not inherent, I don’t think this proclamation is contradictory. To be…
The Roofless Church 