blip : Beefcake Living In a Poof :

Title: dark sayings
Date: Sept 28, 2008
Texts: Ex 17:1-7; Ps 78:1-4, 12-16; Philippians 2:1-13

Psalm 78:2, “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” Or as other translations put it, “I will speak secret saying, mysteries, dark sayings.”

What strange words? When I first read through the lectionary [...]

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The Mennonite recently printed a short piece I wrote about church. There’s nothing original about it. I basically rip off a couple lines from an article my friend Peter Dula wrote. His article is much better. You can read what I wrote here: Fugitive Church.
Our communion in Christ’s Spirit is not a possession, something we [...]

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The Jesus for President campaign came to Raleigh, N.C. on July 22nd. Chris Haw, Shane Claiborne, and their crew took the stage at 7pm. People started filling the seats at 6:30, anticipating the acclaimed campaign. For two and a half hours, Shane and Chris spoke about Jesus and politics to an attentive crowd. Although our [...]

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I preached my first sermon at Quest a couple Sundays ago.  Our pastor asked me to do it as part of my new position as college and community ministry director and ostensibly to give me a scary challenge in my first month.  It was scary, but it was also great.  I neglected taking any homiletics [...]

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My sermon is indebted to two quotes.

Karl Barth, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (pp. 492 and 496):
Love of one another ought to be undertaken as the protest against the course of this world, and it ought to continue without interruption…. Love is that denial and demolition of the existing order which no revolt [...]

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This week I was shocked to see the protests on the streets of St. Paul. So many people, some of whom probably went too far. But the riot police didn’t help matters with their brutality. This got me thinking about how church is like a boring protest. Sure, getting together for church doesn’t take much [...]

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I’m am beginning to work on a essay for a conversation on technology and worship sponsored by Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. Below you can read my initial attempt at working through some of the literature.

Part 1

Why not start with Karl Barth? In his essay, “Church and Culture” (in Theology and Church, London: SCM, 1962), Barth [...]

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