I want to clear up a few things about my own participation in a house church. First, I’m not doing it because I love that small group experience. Honestly, the “small group experience” has posed the greatest difficulty for me in this setting. I tend to prefer to sing songs with a hundred or two [...]
Way back in January, when I launched Storied Theology, I posted a few thoughts on why I got back into blogging. Having been in the saddle now for eight months or so, I have a few more reflections. I think it’s good for our theological debates and it’s a wonderful source of continuing theological education. [...]
In May, I was in New York listening to a bunch of folks at Redeemer Presbyterian Church talk through the intersection of their faith, their “secular” work, and theological education. At one point in the discussion, a person suggested that maybe what self-sacrificial love looks like in this transient world of ours is committing oneself [...]
This weekend our church was looking at Mark 7. This is a challenging chapter on numerous fronts. It shows Jesus in a controversy over purity rituals in which he argues for upholding God’s law rather than setting it aside in favor of human tradition. And then, in the explanation of purity issues to the crowds [...]
A second issue about authenticity swirls around the nexus of anger and forgiveness. (As an aside, and in the interest of transparency and authenticity, these first two issues are close to home for me. I tend to use more than my fair share of colorful (*ahem*) language and have been known to rage from time [...]
Romans 15 calls Christians to seek each other’s good ahead of their own, even to please each other rather than themselves. Such self-denial is done in imitation of Christ, living out with one another the story of Christ, who also did not please himself. Instead, as singer of a psalm, Christ says, “The reproaches of [...]
