“You will speak in parables.” George H. Martin likens the manner given Isaiah to speak in Isaiah 6 to parables. He notes,
“How strange is that? Imagine telling teachers to teach so that children all fail, or imagine a world where we expect traffic cops to create congestion and cause accidents. Try to imagine a coach [...]
Category Archives: Culture
Modern Parables – Peter Rollins and “Being the Resurrection”
God is Not Your Personal Echo Chamber in the Sky
Another reason why I continue to read Leonard Pitts Jr.
“The point is not that he or we can do what Martin Luther King did or be who Mother Teresa was — we all suffer in that comparison. No, the point is that truest faith is not seen in a secret code on a gun sight, [...]
Addicted to Violence – Contra Jesus’ and Reconciliation
I recently read a Tweet by Michael Carpenter. He doesn’t get UFC. Me either. I grew up watching Joe Frazier. The “Thrilla in Manila” was a fight to remember. Over time though I really fail to see how such pugilistic pummeling can be celebrated by people who understand what it means to be created in [...]
Sometimes Things Are Hard to Say – Avett Brothers
Words often do not come easy. Not just the three the Avett Brothers sing about. Too often we miss occasions to say what is important. Many reasons fill our minds. Then on occasion they are filled with regret.
Sometimes I wonder how hard it has become for the Church to say to the world, “I, Love, [...]
Kinnon’s Interest in Sociopaths Unearthed in Archives
Just when Christian leaders with sociopathic leadership traits thought it was safe to come out, Kinnon fires up the archives. Recently Bill Kinnon admitted to suffering a lapse into cynicism. That is, thinking leaders had progressed to the place where leveraging a position of power was a thing of the past.
Bill returns to his senses [...]
N.T. Wright on Reading the Scriptures
Since I was a child growing up in a Southern Baptist Church we talked about reading the Bible. I recall being challenged to read the Bible through in a year. Those first couple of times found me mired down in the book of Numbers. Finally I pushed through. Today reading the narrative of the Scriptures [...]
What if Retailers Rated Christians?
Let’s put together a website and offer the opportunity for retailers to rate Christians over against other shoppers this holiday season. Oops! I mean this Christmas Season. After all what is more important is that we use the right words than live in the right way.
I read with interest the story from The Gazette out [...]
Follow You this Season of Advent
Many do not see the joy of life during this Season of Advent and Christmastime. Life deals harsh blows. Too often our surface relationships do not offer much hope or help and we simply acknowledge the trouble others face and move on. Much like the scene in James where we say to the hungry “Be [...]
Upside Down Tree – Right Side Up Celebration
“How do I subvert the message my children receive during Christmas?”
Shawn and I were chatting yesterday morning. For some time he found it helpful to only set out an Advent Wreath to subvert the consumer driven nature of the Christmas Season. Now with four children at home and working to balance the tension of “no [...]
Derek Sivers and Contextualzation
A quick note to watch this week’s “Weekly Video” in the first sidebar. Click to enlarge. Debates about context and contextualization find their way into a variety of presentations. Here Sivers asks, “Weird, or Just Different?” Too often anything we do not get is just weird. Assuming this to be the case simply discards the [...]
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