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Mercy Not Sacrifice

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September 2015

September 30, 2015

Jesus would have met with Kim Davis and Gene Robinson

Nothing makes Jesus facepalm more than the stupid oversimplifications of our culture war. Apparently, some...

September 04, 2015

The squandered witness of anti-gay “martyrdom” in an age of dehumanizing sex

I'm not going to call Kim Davis a bigot. I don't think she's a malicious...

July 2015

July 07, 2015

Six scriptures I would use to address Kevin DeYoung’s 40 questions for rainbow flag-waving Christians

Kevin DeYoung’s 40 questions for rainbow-flag waving Christians has been making rounds across the internet...

June 2015

June 26, 2015

Are you open to an LGBT-affirming Biblical perspective?

Today the Supreme Court declared that same-sex marriage is the law of the land. I...

June 19, 2015

Why I can’t use euphemisms for anti-gay Christians

I have many anti-gay Christians in my life and I love them at least as...

December 2014

December 18, 2014

Original sin and the identity of the other (questioning an apparent collision of values)

At a campus ministry conference I've been attending, a conservative evangelical speaker talked about the...

November 2014

November 19, 2014

Two offensive analogies in the gay marriage debate from David Gushee and Andrew Wilson

During the past couple of weeks, two arguments have surfaced on opposite sides of the...

October 2014

October 21, 2014

Where I’m actually coming from as a progressive evangelical

One of my most valuable conversation partners on the Internet is a conservative Calvinist campus...

October 13, 2014

Is God arbitrary? (my point of contention with conservative evangelicals)

Is there anything that God asks us to do for no other reason than because...

August 2014

August 08, 2014

What if instead of attacking gay people, evangelicals supported celibate monasticism?

The latest thing conservative evangelicals on social media are getting excited about and sharing around...

June 2014

June 23, 2014

The two women who got me to carry the rainbow flag

Despite the fact that I've been pretty vocal on my blog about LGBT issues, I...

June 22, 2014

#VAUMC14: We voted for real conversation about sexuality; that means the onus is on us to have it!

Yesterday, my colleague Tom Berlin put forward a motion to postpone the resolution that had...

June 21, 2014

The Virginia Conference talks about sexuality

Like many annual conferences of the United Methodist Church, the Virginia Conference is considering a...

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,...

June 05, 2014

Should the #UMC ask King Solomon how to cut a baby in half?

Two women stood before King Solomon in 1 Kings 3:16-28 with one baby, both claiming...

June 01, 2014

What if conservatives and progressives need each other?

Nobody gets on my nerves like sanctimonious moderates. You know, the kind who are religiously...

May 2014

May 23, 2014

Let them go in peace and start over from scratch like Wesley did

The United Methodist blogosphere has been fired up after a recent announcement that 80 prominent...

March 2014

March 05, 2014

Wrestling with sex (#sermon #podcast)

This was the final sermon of our Wrestling series a couple of weekends ago. We...

March 04, 2014

What is Biblical obedience? Abraham, Huck Finn, and Adolf Eichmann

There's a movement within United Methodism called "Biblical Obedience" whose name itself is offensive to...

February 2014

February 19, 2014

Our Journey as a Celibate LGBT Christian Couple (a guest post by Sarah and Lindsey from A Queer Calling)

[The following is a guest post from Lindsey and Sarah who describe themselves as a...

February 12, 2014

The Bible has room for more than one gay Christian story

A couple of weeks ago, at Wheaton College, a very interesting dialogue happened. The campus...

February 03, 2014

“I used to be exactly like you before I got saved”

There are two obnoxious tendencies that many people seem to fall into quite naturally. The...

January 2014

January 05, 2014

When the Equal Rights Amendment was “gay marriage”

The amnesia of America culture always fascinates me particularly with regard to the things that...

December 2013

December 26, 2013

Since you’ve all been waiting for my two cents on the #DuckDrama…

It was so great to fast from my blog over Advent. The only thing I...

November 2013

November 22, 2013

My duty to the Bible’s living interpretive tradition

I had a good discussion yesterday with my pastor covenant group about our discernment process...

November 20, 2013

Justice of the heart and Frank Schaefer

This week, the United Methodist Church put a pastor on trial named Frank Schaefer for...

November 14, 2013

The United Methodist gay wedding crisis

Thomas Frank, the guy who wrote our textbook on United Methodist polity, has made a...

September 2013

September 07, 2013

Cakes and Quacks: Do Evangelicals Worship Democracy More Than Christ?

[Guest-post from fellow Virginia UMC pastor Jason Micheli: please check out his blog Tamed Cynic!]...

August 2013

August 20, 2013

What is the burden of proof in the #Methodist #homosexuality debate?

In the American justice system, all defendants are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable...

August 02, 2013

Five verses God has tattooed on my heart — #1: 1 Corinthians 1:28

In seminary, I learned to think of truth as a symphony rather than a single...