I had a good heart to heart with one of my neighbors yesterday. We were discussing some recent events on our street that are causes for concern. They involve some new tenants in one of the apartment buildings, and the return of two young men from jail after time served for their most recent run… Continue reading Expectation: Things are going to get worse
Category: Missional
Quotation of the Week
It’s seven p.m. The living room is cozy. What is USAmerican discipleship like, particularly in suburbia?… We sip our coffee, eat our snacks, and read our “lessons” and fill in the blanks of our cool workbooks, wondering if this will be over before “24” starts. Oh, there’s the urgency. There is more danger and urgency… Continue reading Quotation of the Week
What’s for dinner?
The other night I was getting ready to fix some dinner for Doug and me after the kids had gone to bed. I knew that I had not been to the store recently and that our fridge and cupboards were running on empty. The thought ran through my mind: “there’s nothing in the house to… Continue reading What’s for dinner?
A lesson from the ants
We have recently started having ants come into our bathroom. I can’t figure out where they are coming from or why, and our bathroom floor is cleaner than ever, so I am at a loss for how to deal with our little intruders. They are starting to drive me crazy. This morning, as Doug was… Continue reading A lesson from the ants
A day in the life
The other day I was playing out front with the kids when an African American man stopped in our driveway to chat with us for a while. As he stopped in front of one of the kids, he looked at me and asked: “Do your kids like Black people?” I assured him that yes, they… Continue reading A day in the life
Life together
God has very recently brought a few people into my life who are giving me the gift of encouragement. I cannot begin to describe the impact of words that say: “I care for you; I appreciate you; I see your struggles.” It is easy to let life happen around us and to stop taking the… Continue reading Life together
A God of Reversals
Will Willimon has a great post up right now called Divine Wisdom Among ‘Little Old Ladies’ where he responds to a negative comment somebody made about a specific group of churches: “There’s nobody left in the churches except for a few little old ladies.” As always he writes with warm humor and deep conviction, and… Continue reading A God of Reversals
And the winner is…?
Two weeks ago, Kevin Blue (one of our teaching pastors) gave an excellent message at church titled: “Malcolm, Martin, and Messiah.” Part of his message traced the histories and teaching of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Jesus, and asked the question: what, ultimately, was the hope or vision that these leaders pursued? He… Continue reading And the winner is…?
The time is always ripe…
“I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: ‘All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of… Continue reading The time is always ripe…
What must I do to be saved?
In the last three days I have been reminded by a series of unconnected people and circumstances of the importance of showing love to my neighbor. It seems like such a straightforward thing, really. And it is not a difficult concept to grasp or remember! And yet it continues to be the thing we fail… Continue reading What must I do to be saved?