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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...

March 04, 2020

Release (A Poem)

Last year, I experienced one of the best things that's happened to me in ministry....

July 2017

July 19, 2017

7 Ways I’m Not Entirely Progressive

I just got back from the Wild Goose Festival. It's a great experience every year,...

March 2017

March 03, 2017

Detoxify Christianity: A FB Live Video Series for Lent

If you don't think there's anything toxic about American Christianity, then you can stop reading...

July 2016

July 01, 2016

Is there a Christianity that isn’t toxic?

Have American Christians become what Jesus came to stop us from being? It’s not an...

June 2016

June 05, 2016

Lessons from a labyrinth maker

Today when I went to walk at the labyrinth in Audubon Park, a man was...

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...

April 2016

April 15, 2016

The 12 scriptures that inspired my book

When I was a Southern Baptist, we used to believe that Methodists didn't read the...

April 02, 2016

Can Jesus save us from performing? #WorshipNotPerformance

From now until the release of my book How Jesus Saves the World From Us,...

February 2016

February 07, 2016

Mardi Gras, Psalm 150, and the search for an authentic hallelujah

Hallelujah. I've been suspicious of that word my whole life. It means "Praise the Lord!"...

January 2016

January 11, 2016

Can American Christianity be detoxified? (A summary of my first book)

Have we become what Jesus came to stop us from being? Many evangelical Christians in...

June 2015

June 06, 2015

Worship and justice in the feast of first fruits (Deuteronomy 26)

Yesterday's lectionary reading included a passage from Deuteronomy 26 that gives instructions on what the...

May 2015

May 01, 2015

Why white Christians need to listen to Amos and Isaiah

"But let justice roll down like waters; and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Amos 5:24...

September 2014

September 02, 2014

How I would say what Victoria Osteen said differently

In a video clip that has been making the rounds on social media, prosperity gospel...

November 2013

November 29, 2013

Eucharistic life (more than just “being thankful”)

It seemed appropriate to write about the word Eucharist since it means "thanksgiving" in Greek....

October 2013

October 15, 2013

The painter’s studio: a metaphor for thinking about worship

I'm at the semiannual Five Talent Academy gathering. It's an initiative of the Virginia Methodist...

August 2013

August 12, 2013

Feminism, sex, and virtue in Margaret Farley’s Just Love

I have been reading Margaret Farley's Just Love: A Framework for Christian Ethics, the book...

July 2013

July 24, 2013

Is the gospel the invitation to a party or a get out of hell card?

For the first 1500 years of Christianity, the high point of every worship gathering was...

May 2013

May 11, 2013

A brilliant rebuttal to my attack on suburbia

So I thought some of you who are tired of my blogomaniac hubris would get...

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 05, 2013

James KA Smith summarizes the battle of the 21st century

I've just started reading James KA Smith's new book Imagining the Kingdom. Smith's basic argument...

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,...

January 2013

January 24, 2013

Kayal ta-arog (Psalm 42 in hip-hop)

Kayal ta-arog al afike mayim is how you write "As the deer panteth for the...

December 2012

December 22, 2012

Father Hopko vs. Wheaton College: Who gets to be orthodox?

Eastern Orthodox priest Father Thomas Hopko has a featured podcast on Ancient Faith Radio that...

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 03, 2012

Why worship without justice dishonors God (Isaiah 1:10-20)

Isaiah 1:10-20 is a sobering prophetic passage in which God reams out the Israelites for...

December 01, 2012

Blueprints don't make people worship

For the last month, I've been reading David Bentley Hart's Beauty of the Infinite, which...

November 2012

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 23, 2012

Mercy Not Sacrifice: A Recovering Evangelical’s Manifesto

I desperately need your help and feedback in pulling this book together. I have shared...

November 13, 2012

A vision for my future church plant

I'm spending this week at the Virginia conference's New Church Leadership Institute training for church...