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Mercy Not Sacrifice

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July 2020

July 13, 2020

Celebrity-Driven Church Is Not Safe For Kids

I keep on thinking that I’m “over” what happened to me. At a shamanic retreat...

June 2020

June 18, 2020

Why Kevin DeYoung’s “Culture War Strategy” Fails

The Gospel Coalition published an article by Kevin DeYoung decrying the Supreme Court decision that...

May 2020

May 11, 2020

The Light That Will Not Be Seized

[This is a poem about reinterpreting the Genesis 3 Garden of Eden story and how...

April 2019

April 19, 2019

Five Things to Get Right About Jesus’ Cross

I decided to get back on the blog for Good Friday since I've been thinking...

December 2018

December 28, 2018

The Evangelical Zeal For Zeal

Fred Hartley's Dare to Be Different was one of the books that defined my evangelical...

September 2018

September 15, 2018

Satan and the Scandals of the Church

Pope Francis is my problematic fave. I'm sure he's exhibited plenty of personal moral failures...

May 2018

May 03, 2018

No, The Bible Does Not Condemn Domestic Violence

For those of you who have been following the drama around fundamentalist seminary president Paige...

April 2018

April 12, 2018

Why I’m Not Freaking Out About the Methodist Apocalypse

In 2019, United Methodism will experience an apocalypse. Representatives from all over the world will...

December 2017

December 31, 2017

August 2017

August 13, 2017

What If This Is the New Church?

I've been thinking about what I would preach today if I were preaching. And I...

July 2017

July 23, 2017

When Jesus’ garden becomes a monoculture

I have been a gardener for many years. And I hate weeds. In Louisiana, the...

May 2017

May 25, 2017

Is your church going to replace Medicaid?

In announcing the Trump administration's proposed budget this week, White house budget director Mike Mulvaney...

April 2017

April 27, 2017

The narrative that’s destroying United Methodism

There’s a narrative circulating around United Methodism. It goes something like this: if preachers would...

April 16, 2017

Can Easter be more than the church’s self-congratulatory triumphalism?

I've never known what to make of Easter. For evangelicals, the big day is Good...

January 2017

January 11, 2017

What if Franklin Graham was right about God’s role in Trump’s election?

When the news broke of Russian interference in the presidential election, Franklin Graham responded with...

November 2016

November 09, 2016

Love wins (still)

Last night, after our Election Day Communion service, I walked over to the Audubon Park...

September 2016

September 09, 2016

How about instead of buying your pastor a beer you stop driving us to drink?

It's International Buy Your Priest a Beer Day, and I'm feeling like the woman who...

August 2016

August 14, 2016

It’s time to put the knife down

At our joint book event this weekend, Liz Edman read a passage from her book...

July 2016

July 19, 2016

Six things that make white Christian America toxic

Since it's Donald Trump's big week and he's an excellent bellwether of the toxicity of...

May 2016

May 30, 2016

Why I can’t dis Memorial Day

I was 32 years old before I had a personal relationship with an active duty...

May 24, 2016

An open letter to Timothy Tennent

Dear Dr. Tennent, Thank you for your open letter and your follow-up post. Three years...

May 13, 2016

Maybe it’s time to plant a new denomination

I became United Methodist because of Central Avenue United Methodist Church in Toledo, Ohio. I...

December 2015

December 08, 2015

Why I’m thankful for Donald Trump

I'm thankful for Donald Trump for the same reason that I'm thankful for Fred Phelps,...

July 2015

July 05, 2015

Radical hospitality in a small-town United Methodist church

I must confess I’ve had some stereotypes in my head when it comes to small...

June 2015

June 08, 2015

Church without chatter: a weekend with the monks of St. Joseph Abbey

This past weekend, I found myself home alone without my wife or kids, so I...

May 2015

May 13, 2015

What if churches were temples instead of programs?

The latest buzz on the Christian internet is the Pew research report about Christianity's decline in...

April 2015

April 17, 2015

Another world is possible (a shout-out to the #FightFor15 and #DivestTulane movements)

During the past week, I have had the privilege of supporting two different political campaigns,...

November 2014

November 17, 2014

The Jesuit martyrs, the pueblo crucificado, and the kingdom of God

25 years ago, on November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter...

June 2014

June 12, 2014

What does a safe and fruitful church conversation about sexuality look like?

The Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church will be meeting next weekend in Hampton,...