This morning I took the kids to our local park to play, and it turned out two other moms from our church were there with their own kids, as well as my sister’s kids, so we ended up being quite the party! The park was almost completely deserted, which I have been told is actually… Continue reading Leaving
Category: Culture
Does it work?
This past week, I had the chance to read Scot McKnight’s newest book, A Community Called Atonement. It is an excellent book, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in grappling with what it means to be “saved” according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The book is a theological discussion, but as… Continue reading Does it work?
Missional blood
“It’s easier to get people to give money than to give blood.” This was the quotation that caught my attention in Sunday’s L.A. Times. There was a large article about the significant blood shortage in L.A., and concern over the fact that it was a holiday weekend with an increased chance of traumas and injuries… Continue reading Missional blood
A time to mourn
I have a recurring dream that varies a bit each time but contains the essentials of shootings, gangs, and retaliation and my own personal endangerment by these things in my community. Not surprising, considering where we live, what we witness and hear about, and what we have cause to fear. When I have this dream,… Continue reading A time to mourn
The simple life
Jordon Cooper has a great post on simplicity. A lot of people write on this topic, but I really appreciated his tone: one of humility and, well, simplicity in talking about what some of the basic issues are. I resonated with his descriptions of his family’s home, and the adequacy of their space. Doug and… Continue reading The simple life
Some thoughts for preachers
Just this week my sister and I were talking about some different authors and their approach to biblical interpretation. We discussed some books in particular that demonstrated what felt like two extremes: one, making definitive claims about God’s activity in a specific passage and its meaning for us (one could say a moralistic approach), and… Continue reading Some thoughts for preachers
Why, mommy?
When Elliot, our angel for the first half of the day, arrived back at our house from playing with Mercy and Aaron at the park, he told me that the kids had done great but had witnessed something unfortunate. He said that while they were playing, the police had arrived and had gotten into a… Continue reading Why, mommy?
Mere humility
Kent Anderson posted some great thoughts this week on the temptation many of us struggle with which he calls “the arrogance of the present.” He comments on the ways that authors and speakers and leaders often speak to and about the church with a great amount of condemnation for how things have looked and been… Continue reading Mere humility
Come let us worship
“The First Testament does not assume that human beings in general, or the people of God in particular, know by intuition how to worship, or that they bring to God the best they can devise or the expressions that form in their own hearts. God lays down what counts as proper worship.” (From John Goldingay’s… Continue reading Come let us worship
Welcome
One of the things Doug and I noticed on our drive from Spokane to Los Angeles was the remarkable civility and warmth we experienced in Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Living in a big city, and maybe especially a place like L.A., there is this shell or crust (or spikes, even) that develops between people:… Continue reading Welcome