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Mercy Not Sacrifice

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March 2020

March 30, 2020

Zen and God’s Grace

One consistent part of my spiritual journey for the past twenty years has been my...

February 2019

February 26, 2019

Practical Holiness Is Wesleyan Orthodoxy

I just spent a three-day Cursillo retreat with mostly older, conservative small-town United Methodists in...

October 2018

October 31, 2018

Can Wesleyanism Evolve Or Does It Belong To The 18th Century?

The continuous meta-debate within the United Methodist debate is to ask: what are we really...

December 2017

December 14, 2017

Grace, Truth, and Eucharist in an Age of Disposable People

I was originally going to write something about Roy Moore and the 81% of white...

November 2017

November 30, 2017

Sex As Grace (Reflecting On A Discussion With College Men)

"Togetherness in Bed," rt69, Flickr C.C. This week, I decided to go through former Archbishop...

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...

July 2016

July 28, 2016

I alone can fix it: the delusion of the white messiah

"I alone can fix it." Donald Trump has said a lot of things that he's...

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...

June 2016

June 09, 2016

Where the victory happens

There's a tendency in our world today to live as though the only events that...

May 2016

May 20, 2016

When United Methodists behave like Galatians

My fellow Patheos blogger Eric Smith has a provocative blog post pairing the May 29th...

May 19, 2016

The three essentials of the Wesleyan gospel

I came across an article by a woman named Carolyn Moore that puts forward "three non-negotiables for...

March 2016

March 03, 2016

Guest post: What if the prodigal son had Xanax?

[This guest post is from Steve Austin. Steve Austin is a family man, writer, speaker, and...

February 2016

February 01, 2016

Why I’m not really invested in what happens in Iowa today

I remember when I thought Barack Obama was going to save our country. Back in...

September 2015

September 07, 2015

Capitalism’s war on the Sabbath

One of the most important events in labor history happened in Exodus 20:10 when God...

August 2015

August 20, 2015

Why moralistic meritocracy is incompatible with Christian teaching

There's a meme going around Facebook about a famous football player who boasts that he...

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...

May 2015

May 10, 2015

The woman who taught me what grace means

This is my mom with my eldest son a few Christmases ago. She's an excellent...

August 2014

August 31, 2014

Grace vs. niceness in interracial dialogue

I wanted to ponder the difference between grace and niceness in difficult online conversations, particularly...

July 2013

July 07, 2013

Eternal life is living in God’s welcome

This week's Journey to Eternity sermon is about welcome. The word welcome is one way...

June 2013

June 25, 2013

When I forget my song…

There's an African folktale that I've read with both of my sons. In the story,...

June 21, 2013

Eternal life is living in God’s poetry

Growing up evangelical, I had drilled into me the dichotomy between "the law" and "grace."...

April 2013

April 17, 2013

Should Christians weigh in on other peoples’ tragedies?

A friend of mine who recently had a major shift in his theology wrote the...

February 2013

February 11, 2013

Surprised by mercy: my train-wreck conversion story

I was invited to share an occasion when I was surprised by mercy. It was...

January 2013

January 30, 2013

“I give God 10%. Why do you get 18?” (with a response from John Wesley)

You know the stereotype about the cheapskate Sunday lunch church crowd who shortchange servers on...

January 27, 2013

God's grace in 4 stick figure drawings

We had the first session of our new member class today. During the first class,...

January 27, 2013

God’s grace in 4 stick figure drawings

We had the first session of our new member class today. During the first class,...

January 18, 2013

Lance Armstrong and the need for grace

I'm not going to argue whether or not you should forgive Lance Armstrong or not...

December 2012

December 17, 2012

Mary's Magnificat: "His mercy is for those who fear Him"

This weekend, I preached on Mary's Magnificat (audio, Luke 1:46-55) at our church in the...

December 08, 2012

Romans 4: Believing promises, obeying contracts, and retribution

One of the struggles I have with the word "covenant" is that it seems to...

December 06, 2012

From fear and trembling to refuge (Psalm 2)

I have always had a particular attraction to Philippians 2:12, "Work out your salvation with...