Category: theologizing
“You Are More Than…” Best Mother’s Day Sermon EVER!
Mother's Day sermons are notoriously awful. Sentimental tripe that leaves some women feeling smugly self-satisfied, while others leave licking their wounds. But not this Mother's Day sermon, given by my friend James Walsh, an associate pastor at my church. Seriously? You've got ...
The Proverbs 31 Woman, Theology, and Me, Part 3
In Part 1, I talked about my early understandings (and misunderstandings) of the Proverbs 31 Woman. In Part 2, I shared some of the things I have learned about the theology underlying Proverbs 31. And in Part 3, I'm going to make ...
The Proverbs 31 Woman, Theology, and Me, Part 2
In Part 1 of this post, I talked about my early thoughts about the Proverbs 31 Woman: from my childhood perception of her as a wise, kind instructor that I should emulate, to the law-ridden measuring stick of Christian womanhood ...
The Proverbs 31 Woman, Theology, and Me, Part 1
It's going to be a busy week around here, so I'll be reposting a three-part series I wrote last summer, on my old blog. Enjoy! I've had an ambiguous relationship with the Proverbs 31 Woman over the years. When I was a ...
Tylenol Christianity: Offering Hope and Healing, Instead of Easy Answers and Trite Advice
Sometimes, I feel like the church has a hard time lingering in places of pain. Abuse. Homosexuality. Bullying. Singleness. Disability. Abortion. Illness. Addiction. Grief. We tend to skim right over these topics, offering quick, carefully-crafted statements about our stance on the issue. ...
We Are the Pharisees
Pharisees get a bad rap. I know, I know--there's that whole "brood of vipers," "conspiring to kill Jesus" thing. Not their brightest moments. But did you know that several of Jesus' followers, and many, many members of the early church, were ...
Oppressors, Activists, and Spiritual Stinginess: St. Paul’s Guide to Praying Better Prayers
"And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ." -Philemon 1:6 I was reading Philemon this weekend, and many things ...
Patriarchy, Pop Culture, and Pornography, Part 2
(Continued from Part 1) What it comes down to is that in many ways, society ascribes value to women based on how attractive they are to men. (This is only exacerbated by women’s idolatrous tendency to base their identity on who ...
Patriarchy, Pop Culture, and Pornography, Part 1
Several years ago, I read “The DaVinci Code” to see what all the fuss was about. It was nothing special—a fast-paced novel with interesting, if inaccurate, historical details woven in—but one line still stands out to me. The leading lady ...
In 1522, Protestant reformer Ulrich Zwingli was involved with the scandalous consumption of sausage during Lent, an event that sparked the Reformation in Switzerland. (Given that some of my ancestors were Mennonites who immigrated to America from Switzerland, I can’t ...
We're on the second week of the study I'm facilitating on "Half the Church," and I'm loving the discussions we're been having. I've been so blessed by the insights the women in my community have, and the stories they share. However, this has ...
Living in the Mess: The Problem With Outcome-Based Christianity
My post about the orphan crisis and world missions is up at Red Letter Christians today. I've always struggled a little with that post, feeling that it didn't quite express what I wanted to get across, so imagine my delight ...
Toxic Christianity: When Our Public Face Poisons Faith
If there's one thing that leaves me completely aghast, it's Christians hurting one another and using religion to justify their behavior, or citing it as the reason that they didn't step in to defend the hurting, vulnerable party. It's the child ...
Junia Is Not Alone
Anabaptist or not, Scot McKnight comes out swinging in his bite-sized eBook defending women in ministry, "Junia is Not Alone." I. Loved. It. Of course it contained the solid, thoughtful scholarship we've come to expect from McKnight. But what blessed me about ...
How Does God REALLY Feel About Interracial Marriages? (Or, what year is it, people?)
If you've followed this blog for any length of time, Tim's depthy, well-articulated insights are probably as familiar as my posts themselves. So when he forwarded me this article about a church that voted (recently!) to ban people in interracial marriages ...
The Name That Grace Bestows
This article is incredible. A district in central India held a renaming ceremony for girls who had been named Nakusa or Nakushi--Hindi for "unwanted." In that district, there are currently only 883 girls for every 1,000 boys, due to gender-selective ...
Occupy Your Wallet
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." First, a disclaimer: I haven't really been following the whole Occupy Wall Street thing, any more than I followed the Tea Parties in 2010. SO not into it ...
Spiritual Blind Spots: How Do You Topple Invisible Idols?
We all have them--those areas in our lives that we need to give over to God, but aren't even aware of, much less able to address effectively. Oh, we might know something isn't right--our spiritual "Spidey-senses" tingle uncomfortably, or we ...
Sesame Street and the Kingdom of God
I just stumbled across this old-school Sesame Street skit (back from when Grover was GREEN!), and thought it was strangely profound. Enjoy!
Helen Lee, author of "The Missional Mom: Living With Purpose at Home and In the World," wrote a fabulous post today about how Steve Jobs relates to missional living. The world needs more of the "crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the ...
God, Girls, and Redemption: The Girl Effect Is Good Theology! Plus, a FREE GIVEAWAY!
"My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For he hath remembered the lowly estate of his handmaiden...He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree...He hath ...
I recently discovered Amy Julia Becker, whose new book, "A Good and Perfect Gift", is described as "a spiritual memoir that chronicles Amy Julia Becker’s journey through her daughter Penny’s first years of life. Top of her class at Princeton, Amy Julia ...
Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream
I hate it when inspiration fizzles. Yesterday, I had a brilliant (if I do say so myself) blog post about the cost of discipleship burning burning a hole in my psyche, but couldn't find the time to type it out. ...
Is It Controversial That I’m Not Down With Killing People?
Less than an hour ago, Georgia executed Troy Davis, even though 7 out of the 9 eyewitnesses recanted or changed their testimony regarding his guilt. Amnesty International, which has been protesting the case vehemently, was so overwhelmed with traffic that ...
Famine, God’s Glory, and a Bigger Prayer
"Why can we trust God, no matter what happens?"I'm reading The God of Promise and the Life of Faith by Scott J. Hafemann for my biblical theology class, and that question is the title of one of his chapters. (The ...
The Proverbs 31 Woman, Theology, and Me: Part 1
I've had an ambiguous relationship with the Proverbs 31 Woman over the years.When I was a baby, my Auntie Lynn gave me a plaque that hung in my room until I left for college. It was beautiful, with a puffy, ...
The Proverbs 31 Woman, Theology, and Me: Part 2
In Part 1 of this post, I talked about my early thoughts about the Proverbs 31 Woman: from my childhood perception of her as a wise, kind instructor that I should emulate, to the law-ridden measuring stick of Christian womanhood ...
The Proverbs 31 Woman, Theology, and Me: Part 3
In Part 1, I talked about my early understandings (and misunderstandings) of the Proverbs 31 Woman. In Part 2, I shared some of the things I have learned about the theology underlying Proverbs 31. And in Part 3, I'm going ...
What is Idolatry?
From one of my textbooks, "The God of Promise and the Life of Faith" by Scott J. Hafemann:"...In other words, idolatry is the futile way of thinking that results from mankind's failure to honor the One who has revealed himself ...
Prayer and the Discipline of Ignoring Hornets
I don't know about you, but I have a hard time focusing long enough to pray. Oh, I talk to God, but all too often my needs and concerns wind up tumbling all over each other like starving puppies scrambling ...
