The Meaningful Mess of Membership – Part 1
Membership has fallen on hard times. Throughout American history membership in a local church was unquestioned and largely viewed as a great privilege, but today it has fallen into disrepute. Fewer than half of Americans who regularly attend church services…
Why Plant Churches.
In my sermon this past Sunday I mentioned something that strikes fear into the hearts of some, while filling others with great excitement – church planting. This idea has circulated in, through, and around our church for years, since our…
Seven Stanzas at Easter by John Updike
Make no mistake: if he rose at all It was as His body; If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, The amino acids rekindle, The Church will fall. It was not as the flowers, Each soft spring…
Discussion Questions for Her
1) What’s the weirdest question you’ve ever asked Siri? How did she respond? 2) Did you find Her romantic, creepy, melancholy, or hopeful? Feel free to insert your own favorite adjective here if none of these work. 3) The first…
Failing the Test: a review of Her
Back in 1950s, when the best computer in the world lacked the power of your old laptop, British mathematician/philosopher Alan Turing anticipated a day in which this would no longer be so. In his paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” he…
Ash Wednesday
Momento mori. This ancient Latin phrase means, “Remember (you have to) die.” It sounds very similar to the statement said to worshippers on Ash Wednesday as the pastor or priest smudges ashes on their forehead in the shape of the…
A Review of The End of Sexual Identity: Why Sex is Too Important to Define by Lance Lawhon
This review is a response to Jenell Williams Paris’ book, The End of Sexual Identity: Why Sex is Too Important to Define. Her book is an in-depth review and critique of the sexual identity phenomenon. Here she examines its roots,…