The Theological A More Authentic Fundamentalism (Peter Rollins) This quote is from Peter Rollins who will be in Hollywood speaking on his Evandalism tour March 1 and 2. In the post he discusses the subjective violence of Fundamentalism, which covertly seeks to cover up a maintenance of the status quo: The main gist of the argument lies in
Blog Entries Dress-Down Friday | Bolt, Naomi Klein and Coffee It’s been a while since I posted a “Dress-Down Friday” post so today seemed like a good day to get back into the swing of things. Dress-Down Friday’s are just casual postings of whatever random goodness I’ve bumped into while cruising the web. I think you’ll
Featured Digging Up the Roof: The Kingdom Moment and the Paralytic in Mark 2:1-12 This is the sermon I gave this past Sunday on Mark’s story about Jesus and the paralytic. When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front
The Political New York Quakers On Torture The New York Yearly Meeting of Quakers put a minute together on torture and then made a video of people reading it. I thought it was good enough to share with all of you. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMbeDd_W9AM&w=525&h=444]
The Theological Plan B: The Church (John Caputo) In preparing for a sermon the other day I came across one of my favorite quotes from John Caputo’s book, “What Would Jesus Deconstruct?” (see also here): The name of Jesus is too often a mirror in which we behold our own image, and it has always been easy
Church in Mission The Paralytic as Missionary (Mark 2:1-12) I’m putting together a sermon on Mark 2:1-12 where Jesus meets, and heals, the paralytic. As I was talking this passage over with a friend it dawned on us that the paralytic, after he is healed, is the one sent out like a missionary, while the rest remain
Church in Mission A 21st Century Good Samaritan: Deidox’s Story of “Robert” Last week I heard about the new project Brent Gudgel, Dan Portnoy and clan have been working on called “Deidox” from twitter. I’ve posted about some of Brent’s work before: The New Chronicle Project. The Imagination of the Kingdom at Work Think of Deidox, pronouced “day-docs,” as short
All Songs Considered Great New Tunes for 2009 Last year, I felt, was kind of void for me when it came to new music. That is one reason why I asked my good friend Matt Hoopes to guest write his list (and also I was interested in learning about new artists). But already for 2009 I’ve been
Church in Mission Is It The End Of Our SUV Lifestyle? I just finished reading Tom Sine’s recent book, “The New Conspirators: Creating The Future One Mustard Seed at a Time,” for a review in a Friends’ periodical. It’s a book I highly recommend for those of you involved in ministry currently, or are interested in getting into ministry
The Political Witnessing History: Barack Obama Becomes President Yesterday, we witnessed history-in-the-making; NY Times headline reads: Obama Takes Oath, and Nation in Crisis Embraces the Moment. Wherever we were, whatever ethnic, political or religious backgrounds we have, we were all aware of the momentous occasion and place in history January 20, 2009 will forever hold. I was glad
Featured What is a Quaker? Reflections on What We Might Become A few weeks back I was invited to talk with some college-age Friends during a weekend retreat. It was my first visit to Plainfield, Indiana and I had a nice time meeting these students and their adult leaders from Western Yearly Meeting. I was invited to sit on a panel
Blog Entries Barclay Press: Convergent Friends and Quaker Renewal I’ve published another Barclay Press article, this time it’s a very basic (though a bit long) introduction to convergent Friends called: Beyond the Boundaries: Convergent Friends and Quaker Renewal. I wrote it with Evangelical Friends in mind, I know all of you who read this blog know about
Featured A Tribute to Herbert R. Dymale The other day a friend emailed to let me know that our Bible and Theology professor from Malone College (now University), Herbert R. Dymale, passed away this last week. Dr. Dymale was a hero for many of us who had him over the forty years he taught at Malone. Here
Ben Lomond Quaker Center Join Us at the Convergent Friends Retreat in February Robin, Martin and I will be co-leading a weekend retreat on convergent Friends we’re calling “Reclaiming the Power of Primitive Quakerism for the 21st Century” at the Ben Lomond Quaker Center this February 20-22. We’re getting pretty excited about the weekend. Basically, it’s going to be a
Blog Entries Dress-Down Friday | Peace in the Holy Land We got back safely into LA this past Monday from a great vacation with our families in Ohio, but since then it has been a whirlwind week of things to do. But just because there’s lots to do doesn’t mean there aren’t cool things happening around the
Featured Heeding God’s Call – Peace Gathering in Philly Next week I will be going to Philadelphia for the peace gathering there: Heeding God’s Call. There’s never a bad time to reflect on God’s call to peace and discuss ways in which we can be involved in working alongside that mission, but it seems especially timely
Featured On Disciples: Forgiving George Bush And/Or the Church I ran across a website yesterday via Good Magazine called “Forgive George.” It’s not really surprising to see something like this, with the inauguration only a few weeks away, the end of Bush’s presidency is on every one’s mind (there are a number of “tribute” sites to
Blog Entries Newbie’s Guide to Seminary Over the course of the last couple years I’ve done a number of posts on tips and tricks with regards to studying, using computers more efficiently, and productivity/organization. It’s not a main focus for my blog, but when I am inspired with an idea and I see
Church in Mission MacIntyre And Church Renewal I came across this Alasdair MacIntyre quote not long ago and thought it was a fitting reflection for the much-discussed topic of church renewal. Part of MacIntyre’s point is to say that if a tradition is to overcome its own crisis of knowing, it will be through the revision
Featured Guest Post: Matthew Hoopes’ Top 5 Albums of the Year Since he spends so much time immersed in music, I asked my good friend, and fellow Canton, Ohio native Matthew Hoopes of Relient K to share his top 5 Albums of 2008 with the gathering in light community. This is his first guest post here, and it’s a a
Featured Dress-Down Friday | Happy First Birthday L Edition This is a “Dress-Down Friday” in honor of our daughter L, who’s celebrating her first birthday today. I can’t believe it has been a year since the arrival of this wonderful gift from God. This past year has been incredible! Over the past year we’ve experienced the
Blog Entries New Gathering In Light: 3rd Edition Three years ago I bought gatheringinlight.com and started hosting my own website and blog. It was an attempt to establish more of a presence online, work on my writing, and try to make connections with other people interested in the same kinds of questions I am. Over the course
Featured Reclaiming the Power of Primitive Quakerism for the 21st Century Robin, Martin and I are leading a weekend retreat at the Ben Lomond Quaker Retreat Center this coming February on convergent Friends, we’ve humbly titled, Reclaiming the Power of Primitive Quakerism for the 21st Century. I’m looking forward to taking an entire weekend to focus on building community,
Church in Mission Finishing Two Quarters with Everett Cattell Image by Midnight-digital via Flickr This past Friday I dropped my paper in an envelope, paid the $2.63 postage and sent it off to Elkhart, IN at 4 pm, an hour before the deadline. Leaving the post-office, I felt much lighter. Not only was a six-month weight off my
Blog Entries The Unlikely Hero of Psalm 85:1-2 Image via Wikipedia LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin.” (Psalms 85:1-2 NRSV) Jacob wasn’t exactly a hero in the biblical narrative, at least when you look at even a
