Israel, Palestine, and the Church

We are human. In our all too “humanness” we tend to pick sides. Christians in Israel and Palestine have struggled in these conflicts. THIS STORY is tough to read and absorb because all that Christians have tried for decades in the arena of reconciliation just keeps getting shoved back into the ground.

After decades of work, this is one observation:

Understanding context and rethinking Paul

I have believed in women in ministry for as long as I can remember. Growing up in a Pentecostal denomination that had ordained women from the beginning, it was at first assumed in my thinking, then solidified by study over the years as I continually ran into people who didn’t think women should be ordained.

Church hurt… where do we go?

Just as the last post I shared a podcast on someone wrestling with their faith/theology/public belief, etc., and had areas I that resonated with me, this podcast is much the same.

Selling off Christianity for parts

This interview is a real gift for me. There were times in my life, long before deconstruction was the phrase to use, where similar shifts happened for me theologically.

Give us shepherds, Lord

I was as swept up on the “leadership” movement as anyone when I was beginning ministry. John Maxwell was my guy. I fell into his mantra of “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”

King: A Life

King: A Life by Jonathan Eig is new work on Martin Luther King, Jr. There is certainly so much that is familiar, but thousands of pages of recently released documents plus interviews with neighborhood friends, church goers in King’s day, and more added new depth to King’s life.

A prayer for the peace of the world

I am long over my pre-tribulation rapture days and looking at “signs” in the Middle East and making wild predictions of the end of the world.

Where I find myself these past many years is longing for peace. A longing to “study war no more.” There is a longing when I pray, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It is a deep longing that God’s peace can and will reign.

A deepening of my faith and calling

Two recent books that have deepened my faith and calling:

This Foundational Order by Dr. Tara Jernigan

The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography by Dr. Alan Jacobs

Living in faith and fire

Hebrews 12:28–29 (NIV): 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.” 

Overcoming the DNA of violence

He shall judge between many peoples
    and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
    neither shall they learn war any more; (Micah 4:3, NRSVue)