In December, as part of our observance of Advent, I offered a sermon series entitled “Christmas Deconstructed.” I attempted to share with my congregation a synopsis of how we got to where we are in our celebration of the birth of Jesus—from the varied birth narratives of Matthew and Luke; back further into Paul’s and … Continue reading “Sabbatical Reflections
Preparations Part III—
Deconstruct to Reconstruct“
Category: Interfaith
Sabbatical Reflections
Connectional Living
In the Presbyterian Church we wrap our vision around three ideas discerned over hundreds and thousands of years of the Christian Church: Confessional, Constitutional, and Connectional. We are confessional because we confess our faith and are guided by historical confessions written over thousands of years in response to particular situations and contexts. We are constitutional because we … Continue reading “Connectional Living”
BlogPost: Holy Week – Day 4
With every step Jesus took into and within Jerusalem, he pushed against the status quo of fear and oppression. He pushed the Jewish leadership in their cooperation with the empire. He pushed the Roman leadership, riding that thin line between nuisance and seditionist. The leaders saw that the crowd was getting behind Jesus, drawn to … Continue reading “BlogPost: Holy Week – Day 4”
Tempe, AZ Faith Leaders Respond to Call By Steven Anderson for Execution of Homosexuals
Steven Anderson, pastor at Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, has made national news with a recently preached a sermon in which he called for the execution of all homosexuals by Christmas in order to cure AIDS/HIV (news articles can be found here, as well as a protest held in front of his church on … Continue reading “Tempe, AZ Faith Leaders Respond to Call By Steven Anderson for Execution of Homosexuals”
Church in the World Today
In America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity (2005), Robert Wuthnow, an American sociologist, argues that we have possibly been going about these ecumenical (inter-Christian) and inter-faith dialogues all wrong. He writes that we have been so focused on theology (understandings about God) that we have completely missed the opportunities to simply be in relationship, … Continue reading “Church in the World Today”