Luke Timothy Johnson and Eve Tushnet’s views re: homosexuality are articulated so powerfully in a June 15th Commonweal article titled Homosexuality & the Church: Two Views (Volume CXXXIV, Number 12). Read More
Monthly Archives: July 2007
Views on Homosexuality by LT Johnson and Tushnet
Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Heath
A new friend and Inner Metro Green member recently dropped off a signed covenant letter, a wonderful monetary gift for the burgeoning church, and a great book for me. Events like this are as exciting as a seven year old’s Christmas, at least for church planters. There is still a lot of work to do, and we are still in our infancy stage, but the church plant is beginning to take root and sprout! Keep on praying for us and our wonderful city. Read More
What is an Emergent Unitarian Universalist Church!?!
This is the sort of thing that makes it very hard for me not to be very particular about the friends I keep: An Emergent Liberal Church. I deeply appreciate the open conversation to which the Emergent wing of the Emerging Church is dedicated, but seriously … a Unitarian Universalist Emergent Church?!? I journeyed pretty far behind that particular curtain, and what I discovered was and still is not pretty. Honestly, it is not. The flirtation between Unitarian Universalism and the Emergent wing of the Emerging Conversation is nearly enough for me to join the growing multitude and discount Emergent validity completely. Emergent isn’t Emerging, after all; said differently, the Emergent Village is only one expression of the larger Emerging Conversation. Read More
Considering Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange is so much more than an entertaining novel; it is a philosophical and theological fable built upon a conceptual struggle between good, evil, and our God-given and human ability to choose one over the other freely. It is a satirical treatise railing against the dangers of overextended government and its vain penchant for social solutions predicated on the contextual removal of individual free choice in moral decisions. It’s a nightmarish tale of sex and violence set in a dystopian world no sharp person would ever volunteer to live in, never mind confessions of actual and real-time occupancy. Yet, we all do go on living in that very world in spite of our best intentions, and everyday too! Read More
Blanc Turns 26, Celebrates by Launching a New Blog
Fellow blogger, virtual friend, and good ‘ole boy Shawn Blanc is celebrating his 26th birthday today! I would be something less than a good ‘ole boy if I failed to wish him a happy birthday! So, happy birthday, Shawn! I hope you and yours have a wonderful day of celebration. So, do unplug the machines and go off line for a few hours today. Read More
How to Reduce Your Church’s Ecological Footprint
Yesterday was fantastic. The larger part of our afternoon was happily spent on friends and fellowship at the home of the senior pastor of Manor BIC, our home church. We enjoyed the warm weather and bright sunshine from the sturdy, wooden deck in his backyard while we sipped lemonade and nourished ourselves on primo foods graciously served to us by his lovely and beyond hospitable wife. It was a remarkable day filled with fun, friendship, and conversation. Read More
10 Tough Questions Sermon Series at Manor Church
Today marked the start of a 10 week “Ten Tough Questions” Sunday series at Manor Brethren in Christ Church. Manor BIC is our home church. It is also the commissioning and sponsoring congregation for Inner Metro Green. So, when I was asked if I would preach one of the Sundays in this incredible series, I said yes, and emphatically so! Read More