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Charlottesville, Violence and a Vision for a Way Forward
This past weekend, Neo-Nazi demonstrators- including a number of terrorists armed militia-style gathered under 150 miles from the nation’s capital. They assembled to protest the city of Charlottesville’s decision to cease the practice of venerating a well-known leader of a violent contingent that once attempted to destroy the United States of America. Only after 1.2 […]
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Raising Cain Today
Am I my brother’s keeper? Nothing surpasses the joy and wonder of a child. The possibilities, the potentialities, the first steps, the crazed screams of jubilation arising over the sighting of a dog call each mother and father, each aunt and uncle and plenty of unsuspecting strangers to attention. This is inherent in what it […]
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On Saying Yes to Justice
Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? Is this not the fast that I choose: to […]
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The Press and Distinctly Christian Truth-Telling
This is the first in an installment of daily office lectionary readings from the Book of Common Prayer and their convergence with the news of the day. Ahab, the king of Israel, is an historical footnote in the long line of near eastern monarchs. He won some battles and he died in one after fighting […]
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Embodied Theology
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The story of humanity from the beginning has been a long witness to the creations’ struggle to listen to the voice of the Creator. At first, the instructions were simple. “Breathe.” And it was so. “Be fruitful and multiply.” And it was good. But then then […]
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The Play and Law-fulfillment of Jesus
Jesus’ fulfillment of the law transforms what once seemed like an impossible, constraining list of prohibitions and commandments to a simple framework for living a life characterized by freedom.
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Salt and Light and Riddles
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do […]
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A Theology of Play and the Persecuted
Blessed are you when they reproach you and do all evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because your reward is great in heaven: for they did the same thing to the prophets before you. -Matthew 5:11-12 A year or so ago, I started to go through the Sermon on the Mount […]
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The Blessed Persecuted
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus started out his inaugural sermon in Matthew’s retelling with a promise that those we know as poor are the ones who possess the kingdom of heaven. The crowd immediately knew that this was a different type of teacher […]
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Kelly Gissendaner and the Ethics of Execution
Last weekend I was mindlessly flipping through my Facebook feed when I came across the petition to grant clemency to Kelly Gissendaner, the Georgian woman whose execution date was originally set for Feb. 25, 2015. As I read the emotional plea to join in the effort to grant Gissendaner a chance to live out her […]