I would humbly assert that Ferguson, Mo., as well as the nation to which it belongs, needs “forgiveness.” Yes, the only thing that could make a lasting and redemptive difference that all of us can live with would be “forgiveness.” I am referring, of course, to the latest episode in the tragic and seemingly never-ending saga …
Category Archives: Mission
Help our Easter Unbelief!
For people in ancient times no less than for moderns, to believe and stake your life on a Lord who comes back from the dead does not come easily or automatically. Yet, our faith-forebears did believe and lived with such power that our world today has been decisively shaped as a result. Here is one …
Jesus the Immigrant
I wonder if we might think differently about immigration matters if Jesus were an immigrant. Often our settled ways of thinking about issues, and therefore our responses to them, suffer disruption when we learn that the “issue” has happened to a loved one. No one I know champions divorce because everyone knows how devastating a …
FOR LOVE OF THE PHARISEES
It is common to rail against the Pharisees in our churches. Pharisees embody everything that goes wrong in the life of a “missional church.” Pharisees gather herds of sacred cows and solemnly lead them to pasture, carefully tend their bruises, and eagerly exalt their status among the other, ordinary and mundane bovine. Pharisees travel far …
“GIVING-UP OR GIVING-FOR” FOR LENT
What are you giving up for Lent? This has become a common question reflecting a common practice among Christ-followers today. The Lenten season, which begins today, is the forty day period of repentance, confession, and seeking by which the world wide community of Jesus enters into the passion of Jesus once again, eventually joining Jesus …