Weekly Sermon Illustration: Amos
In our blog post every Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday, and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic. On July 21, 2013 we will celebrate the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost.
Greg Carey: The Zimmerman Verdict and the Unity of the Church
We're hearing it over and over again: an enormous chasm separates white and black Americans when it comes to the matter of Trayvon Martin's death and George Zimmerman's culpability. If my social media feeds can substitute for scientific evidence, by far most of my African American friends believe Zimmerman should have received a guilty verdict, and most of my white friends believe he was legally innocent.
Calling for help in a panic?
Caregiving expert the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Pratt writes about the tempting feeling when people regard us as super heroes ... and how life often intervenes.
Chris Yaw Interviews Paul Nixon: Congregations that Grow Younger See Young People as Leaders
If your faith community wants to grow younger, you’ve got to let the young people lead. So says United Methodist Churchman and consultant Paul Nixon. In this interview Paul discusses the deep transition the modern Church is enduring – as we cope with a new generation that doesn’t want much to do with established churches. He also shares with us the key to vibrant church communities: they help people go deeper in their spiritual lives.
Martin Copenhaver: Deacons Doing Dishes
In God's realm, everything is turned upside down, and many of our assumptions begin to shake loose. To lead is to be a servant, as Jesus was a servant.
Tony Robinson: A Changed Life
Who knew? Paul also struggled! Even the great apostle was, at times, divided against himself, intending to do the right thing but doing something else entirely. Paul also knew what it was like to screw up. Hallelujah!
Debra Darvick: Tisha B'Av: The Story of the Impossible
Tisha B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning that falls during the summer, marks the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. This year it begins Monday evening, July 15, and concludes sunset on Tuesday, July 16. I have attended services sporadically, more out of a sense of responsibility than any feeling of true mourning. How do I mourn something absent from Jewish experience for nearly two millennia?
Choose the Form
The Ghostbusters had the choose the form Gozer of the Destructor. God chose the the form of a servant. As Christians, we have to choose the form of the church.
Carol Howard Merritt: Wrestling with Faith
Most spiritual leaders have wrestled with faith. Most of your pastors and most of the people that you look up to have questioned their faith and doubted God. It’s just that when we do it, we call it fancy, poetic things, like, The dark night of the soul.
Lillian Daniel: Misplaced Confidence
There are many kinds of confidence, some of them appropriate to behold and some of them downright annoying. Admit it, you know someone, somewhere, who is confident for all the wrong reasons.
Anne Howard: A Word in Time: Two Ways to See
How we see matters. Henri Nouwen taught me at seminary that there are really only two ways to see the world: through the eyes of fear or through the eyes of love. We see this in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Youth ministry and social media: Reading scripture
Guest blogger Eric Augenstein considers the best way to get youth of read scripture.
Steve McSwain: A Fish with Arms? What the--
The instant fish accept that they will never have arms, they grow fins. That's the wisdom with which Mark Nepo begins his thought for today in The Book of Awakening. And, it is a thought that captures my imagination.
ON Scripture-The Bible: Good Samaritans All Around (Luke 10:25-37) By Eric D. Barreto
The story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 is so familiar that to some it probably starts to verge on a cliché. Even people who have never read the Bible, let alone the Gospel of Luke, know the image of compassion embodied by the Samaritan who takes the risk to help a stranger in the midst of great trouble. In fact, the notion of a Good Samaritan has a cultural cache almost entirely separate from the term’s biblical origins.
Kenneth Samuel: A Rock That Is Higher Than I
We all know that the only way to get better at anything in life is to engage a challenge. Yet, when it comes to the contests of life that really matter, we often find ourselves clinging to the plateaus of our own abilities and accomplishments.
Darkwood Brew: Prophetically Incorrect, Part 6: Amos and Jesus Walk into a Bar
What does an Eighth-Century Jewish shepherd have to say about the economic bubble, predatory lenders and politics as usual? Join series host Rev. Eric Elnes, Ph.D. and Frank Schaeffer for part 4 of "Prophetically Incorrect: Amos and the Art of Uncomfortable Truth." Watch Part 6: Amos and Jesus Walk into a Bar
Humble Failure
There are failures, where we do not live up to the expectations we should have for ourselves, but there are also failures, where we do not expect enough from God. In these types of failures, we cultivate humility.
Weekly Sermon Illustration: Neighbor
In our blog post every Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday, and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic. On July 14, 2013 we will celebrate the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost.
Wayne Meisel: Wake Up Church: National Service and the Crossroads of Faith and Justice
The church needs to wake up and meet the national service movement where it is. It is time to stop bemoaning the loss of the prominent public voice we once had, and start participating in the service movement as something beyond our efforts to control.
Youth ministry and social media: Revival
Research fellow Lerone A. Martin looks at the connection between the adoption of new communication patterns by youth has correlated with revival in American religious history in today's post in our series on youth ministry and social media.