Tag: discipleship
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Playful and Abundant Life: Play and the Sermon on the Mount
Over the years one sermon (titled, Learning to Die) from the pen of Dietrich Bonhoeffer has inspired nearly everything I’ve written. There have been numerous direct references to his works on this blog, in my book, and in my various and sundry publications scattered in magazines, but there is one paragraph in particular that has […]
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If the Son has Set You Free
If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed. Some things that Jesus said are, to put it mildly, insane. It’s hard to justify the wisdom of a spiritual leader, a rabbi, a paragon of virtue, and more generally, somebody who could be described as “having it all together,” when he runs around […]
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A Retiring Pope and a Sleeping God
This past week, the world has witnessed a completely unprecedented event. The Pope has retired. Ok, fact-checkers. It has happened nine other times in history. The most recent occurrence was in 1415, when Gregory XII threw in the towel to try and unite the Western church in a time when the papacy was constantly contested. […]
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God, Science, Poets, Love and Hate
When I first met my wife, I decided I wanted to abandon myself to knowing everything about her. So first I learned who her favorite band was. And I was hooked. I wanted to know her dreams, what she wanted to be when she grew up. I wanted to find out what it was about […]
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What Waffles and Eggs have to do with Love and Hate.
I have been doing a lot of cooking lately and I must say that I am getting pretty good at it, aside from a few bumps in the road. Each morning I make a couple of eggs, maybe some toast, or a bit of French toast, when the time is right. And I love to […]
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Bonhoeffer’s Christ and a Call to Die
Christ must become present to us in preaching and in the sacraments just as in being the crucified one he has made peace with God and with humanity. The crucified Christ is our peace. He alone exercises the idols and the demons. The world trembles only before the cross, not before us. –Bonhoeffer Sixty-seven years […]
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Jesus, the Way to the Father for Doubting Thomases Like Me
I cannot believe I have failed to stick up for my friend Thomas heretofore. My apologies. Oh, you may not know who I am talking about until I supply you with his very unfair and mean-spirited nickname. I am talking, of course, about the guy you may know as “Doubting Thomas.” Let he who is […]
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Why did Jesus Live?
Have you ever wondered why Jesus spent thirty-three years on earth before he died? I know I sure have. And I know there are a million good reasons why Jesus had to live before he died. He had to explain what he was about to do on the cross and the world-changing nature of […]
Public Theologians 