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Mercy Not Sacrifice

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Salvation

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December 2015

December 23, 2015

Jesus’ name and the meaning of salvation

In Matthew 1:21, the angel Gabriel tells Mary what to name her new baby: “You...

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...

May 2015

May 06, 2015

How a core evangelical doctrine became my gateway heresy

The other week, a friend playfully tweeted out a warning not to mess around with...

April 2015

April 03, 2015

Embracing godforsakenness: how Jesus’ cross saves the human community

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" These words that Jesus spoke on...

December 2014

December 05, 2014

How Jesus saves through Michael Brown and Eric Garner

One thing that I never tire of pondering as a Christian is how Jesus' cross...

November 2013

November 23, 2013

Are you a pilgrim or a tourist? (Hebrews 11:8-16) #sermon #podcast

Growing up in the church, I would often hear the phrase, "We're just pilgrims passing...

September 2013

September 14, 2013

What does Pope Francis mean by telling atheists to “abide by their own consciences”?

Well Pope Francis probably made some more Christians angry this week with a 2500 word...

June 2013

June 11, 2013

Paraklesis: a beautiful word (2 Corinthians 1)

The Daily Office reading for yesterday was the opening of Paul's second letter to the...

June 07, 2013

Journey to Eternity: our next sermon series

Tomorrow night I will be starting a new sermon series at LifeSign called the Journey...

May 2013

May 24, 2013

Is Pope Francis a universalist heretic?

Oh mercy! The evangelicals have so wanted to make peace with the Catholics, because they...

May 12, 2013

The savior who made us relevant to His mission (Acts 1:6-11)

I preached this weekend about the ascension of Christ. As I shared in a blog...

May 02, 2013

Jonathan Martin’s Prototype: Salvation as the Restoration of Humanity

It's a strange and beautiful thing to hear someone preaching your own thoughts in a...

April 2013

April 08, 2013

“This is eternal life” (John 17:3)

I had a powerful encounter with today's Daily Office reading. The gospel reading was John...

April 08, 2013

Monday Merton 4.8.2013

I'm going to start spending Mondays on my blog with Thomas Merton since I've been...

March 2013

March 24, 2013

Ugliness Into Beauty #6: Proof of God’s Mercy

There's an elephant in the room when we talk about the cross. The cross is...

March 04, 2013

Christian hip-hop: “Jesus, save the world from me”

I'm pushing the envelope regarding my Lenten blog fast, but I'm going to cheat and...

February 2013

February 07, 2013

Is Jesus saving the world from us?

Is Jesus saving the world from us? It's a different way to talk about salvation,...

December 2012

December 24, 2012

Why name him Jesus?

In Matthew 1:21, Gabriel says to Mary, ""You are to give him the name Jesus,...

December 07, 2012

A law unto themselves: virtuous pagans in Romans 2

I've been struggling through the beastliest book about the beastliest book in the Bible: Doug...

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...

November 2012

November 30, 2012

Help me pick a subtitle for my book

I've been experimenting with different subtitles for my book Mercy not Sacrificeand I'm very interested...

November 28, 2012

Salvation from "getting saved": the first 6000 words

Getting saved. These two words describe the best-selling product of one of the most successful...

November 26, 2012

Seven chapters, new title for Mercy Not Sacrifice

I have reduced my book to seven chapters and have given it a new title:...

November 22, 2012

Thanksgiving: Our Duty and Our Salvation

Every week at the Monday mass in the basilica during the Eucharist liturgy, the priest...

October 2012

October 28, 2012

Pleasantville Christianity vs. Kingdom Christianity

This weekend, I preached on the text of the parable of talents. My regular readers...

October 26, 2012

How children save us

Over the past several years, as I've gone through the ordination process, I have had...

October 09, 2012

How can Jerry Sandusky get into heaven?

Jerry Sandusky was on the TV at the gym this morning, since his sentencing is...

October 08, 2012

Unity in the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:1-16)

As part of our celebration of World Communion Sunday this weekend at Burke United Methodist...

August 2012

August 23, 2012

Worship not performance

In contemporary Christian worship, a distinction is often made between worship that is "really worship"...

February 2012

February 01, 2012

Beauty will save the world #2: On regaining wonder

The second chapter of Beauty Will Save the World is about rediscovering the concept of...