Well, it happened again. OK, it actually happens nearly every time someone decides to write about the book of Job. Inevitably they take a swipe at Job’s wife for telling Job to “curse God and die”. She’s unfaithful. She’s unhelpful. She’s a tool of the devil, tempting Job to blaspheme. Bad, bad Job’s wife. Actually, not bad, bad Job’s wife. Bad, bad us. Seriously. All … Continue reading Job’s Wife
If there’s one word which describes my experience of 2014 so far, it’s “inadequate”. I have felt utterly inadequate to the challenges of my life. Whatever good I can and have done has been wholly inadequate. In fact, this feeling has been so strong that I have frequently found myself battling a sense that anything I do or try to do is pointless. And into … Continue reading Your Goodness Isn’t Filthy Rags
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When the subject of sin comes up – specifically other people’s sin – a lot of people have one go-to-verse/argument: “even Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to ‘go and sin no more’.” These words are particularly helpful when being confronted with something else Jesus said: “do not judge lest you be judged.” Unfortunately, when Jesus spoke those words, he neglected to add all of the … Continue reading Addressing Sin the Biblical Way
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If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you are well aware that I have a bit of an obsession with the creation stories in Genesis. (No, I don’t read them literally – I take them waaaaaaaaaay too seriously to inflict that sort of nonsense on the text which all but screams “this is a mythological telling, not a history lesson!”) If you could … Continue reading Who’s In Charge Around Here Anyhow?
Once upon a time, back when I was a young, single mom trying to get my crap car to start, or wishing for money to fall from the sky to get my electricity turned back on or hoping I could make it to the gas station on fumes, I prayed many desperate prayers. I was queen of the desperate prayer, in fact. But my prayers … Continue reading Is Your Faith Good Enough? Yes. Always.
You may recall the story in the bible where Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and into the desert. And you may also be aware of the fact that there’s not a lot of food in the desert. So it’s really a dumb place to take a few thousand people. But not to worry – God had a feeling that all those people might … Continue reading Getting By On Manna
A few years ago, I had the chance to spend some time with an African American couple who pastored a small church in an urban area. They were good, kind hearted people with a real passion for God. And they knew the bible better than anyone I’ve ever met. One night we sat down and opened the bible and spent about 3 hours doing the … Continue reading What To Do About Bad Theology
“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate . . . even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” ~ Luke 14:26 “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life of the ages.” ~ John 12:25 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, … Continue reading Hating Life
If a man mints many coins from one mould, they are all alike, but the Holy One, blessed be He, fashioned all men in the mould of the first man, and not one resembles the other. ~ Babylonian Talmud
I am not the first to say it, nor is this the first or last time I will say it, but one of the foundational errors of most Christian theology is that it begins with the fall of man rather than with our creation. When we start with the fall, we ground our identity and understanding of ourselves in sin and brokenness. And the Christian walk which comes out of this foundation is duly oriented to this sin and brokenness. But this is a grave error. The story of you and me and every human being ever doesn’t begin with the fall, but with an almost breath-taking premise: that we are made in the very image of God. This is reality. It is who we are. It is our true identity.
If we believe that we are defined by our sin and brokenness, then the claim that who we actually are is the very image of a mighty, loving God is absolutely scandalous. “Oh no,” we say, “I’m merely a sinner saved by grace. A lowly worm in whom there is no good thing. I am nothing and God is everything.” But go back and read your bible from the beginning. God’s purposes are clear and no where have they been changed or removed: “Let us make man in our own image.” If we are not in reality the very image of God, then God’s work has been destroyed, The enemy has stolen what belong to God and taken it for himself. God is not an all powerful, victorious God if we aren’t walking, talking, living, breathing images of God.
The problem we have – and which scripture makes clear – is that we do sin and others sin against us. Continue reading “Who Are We? (Your Answer is Probably Wrong)”
Writer and lecturer Phyllis Tickle has pointed out that the church undergoes a major shift every 500 years. The Protestant Reformation happened about 500 years ago, so we’re due. And I think anyone who pays attention would agree that it’s time for a major change. We’re too fractious. The world and our understanding of it has changed in really radical ways. The church really hasn’t adjusted well and it’s created an unsustainable gap between the world we live in and the church.
I’m hardly the first one to say this, but the state of the church is pretty similar to the state of Judaism during the time of Jesus. There were differing factions. Some wanted to accommodate or at least cooperate the Roman ruled world they lived in. Some wanted to fight it tooth and nail. Others just wanted to withdraw from the battles and set up their own pockets of faithful living. There were factions among the Pharisees who fixated on following the rules just so in order to curry God’s favor as a way to bring about change. Many were looking for the arrival of a Messiah who would just wipe the whole mess away and set things right. Over all of it were the various power structures of the religious establishment who argued among themselves while remaining largely oblivious to the needs of the people under them. Just like today, they weren’t all bad or wrong, but over all, it wasn’t working. And a real solution to the problems faced by the Jewish people seemed almost unimaginable. Continue reading “Reforming Christianity”
The Upside Down World 