Featured Zacchaeus in the Present Tense “He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead
Featured OMG! A film on GMOs: Review of “GMO OMG” [vimeo https://vimeo.com/71035892 w=550&h=309] Monday evening, I had the opportunity to watch Jeremy Seifert’s new film GMO OMG. Jeremy and his family hold a special place in my heart because of our friendship that developed while he and I were in school together
Featured Prayer and Pointing the Finger (pt. 4) This is the last of four short meditations on prayer based on Luke 18:9-14: “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other
Featured Prayer: Identifying Our Blind spots (pt. 3) This is the third of four short meditations on prayer based on Luke 18:9-14: “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other
Blog Entries my guest post on the smitten word: an ounce of action Suzannah Paul of the Smitten Word has been hosting a series of guest posts on her blog about embodied faith this month. She was kind enough to accept a piece I wrote for the series called “An Ounce of Action.” Below is an excerpt. Jump over there by clicking the
Featured Prayer: Don’t Trust the Labels! (pt. 2) This is the second of four short meditations on prayer based on Luke 18:9-14: “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other
Featured Prayers of Offense and Defense (pt. 1) This week I have four short meditations on prayer based on Luke 18:9-14: “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a
Creativity #Sketchnotes and The Writing Process [This is an image of a sketchnote used for a sermon on Luke 13] There’s a really interesting article about sketching that Mike Rohde linked too from Smashing Magazine titled Hand-Sketching: Things You Didn’t Know Your Doodles Could Accomplish. The whole thing is worth read if your interested
Featured On Opening Our Doors to Critique This post was originally written in September 2013 and it reflects issues that were going on then. Reflecting on the questions that relate to John Howard Yoder’s fall, I have been pushed to consider my own blind spots and complicity in the brokenness of the world. I have written
Featured When Peace Preserves Violence As I continue to think about John Howard Yoder’s sexual misconduct and the reality that within his theology there is either implicit or explicit justification for this kind of behavior, I am concerned that my own theology is not only susceptible to this, but has already been impacted. * How
Featured Taking the Widow’s Mite: Economics from A Christian Perspective I think that economics is the bleeding edge issue of our time. I recently had the opportunity to hear Colleen Wessel-McCoy, a Poverty Initiative Scholar, talk on this subject and she helped me in framing some of these issues with the suggestions of this typology around poverty. There are at
Featured On Healing Vs. Being Cured Trigger warning: Discussion around healing, being hurt, and other beliefs that have been used to wound people who are already wounded. Meeting for Worship for Healing In preparation for our “Meeting for Worship for Healing” I spoke to a couple of ministers who I like to learn from, I did
death and dying The Dead by Denise Levertov Earnestly I looked into their abandoned faces at the moment of death and while I and aged their slack jaws and straighter waxy unrestraint limbs and plugged the orifices with cotton but like everyone else I learned each time nothing new, only that as it were, a music, however harsh,
Uncategorized Friend In Residence at Earlham School of Religion I will be in Richmond, Indiana in a couple weeks as the Friend in Residence at Earlham School of Religion. If you’re in the area and want to participate it would be lovely to have you join us. I am really looking forward to being out there with Friends
James Alison James Alison – Standing at the Edge of an Impact Imagine two different groups of scientists. One group, armed with a set of encyclopedic guidebooks which are constantly being annotated, take turns to look at a distant star or galaxy through an extremely powerful telescope. The scientists offer comments from what they see, and in the light of what they
Featured Suicide: Offering Help to Those Feeling Hopeless, and Accepting Our Limitations – a guest post by Emily Ostrowski This article comes from friend and co-worker Emily Ostrowski. Emily is a suicide prevention counselor working with an organization that helps youth dealing with suicidal ideation. I think you’ll find what she’s offered here both helpful and moving. In Infinite Jest, renowned author David Foster Wallace, who tragically
Featured Sucide: Defined By Life – a guest post by Julie Heidingsfelder I have at least two more posts to share with all of you on the subject of suicide. This one comes from a woman, Julie Heidingsfelder, who is a member in our meeting. Julie has been impacted by the suicides of her grandfather and aunt. We are telling these stories
Featured Suicide: The Devil’s Own Loaves & Fishes – a guest post by Peggy Parsons This post was written in 2010 for Peggy’s Personal blog “A Silly Poor Gospel” after the death of Friend and member of Freedom Friends Church of which she was then the pastor. Peggy’s ministry has been important to me over the years and this post is no different.
Featured Suicide: The End of Paranoia – a guest post by Aaron Scott This post continues the theme of reflecting on suicide and its impact in our lives. It is written by Aaron Scott, a close friend, biblical scholar, poverty initiative activist, and all around awesome person. She lost her grandpa earlier this year to mental illness, here is some of Aaron and
Featured Suicide: When Nobody Is Waiting for you Tomorrow Image on flickr by martin_kelley This week is suicide prevention week and so it’s got me thinking more about suicide. I wrote some of my story about the suicide of my step-dad a few weeks back called “Suicide and the Things We Carry”. My wife Emily and I
The Artful Prayer for Revolutionary Love by Denise Levertov That a woman not ask a man to leave meaningful work to follow her. That a man not ask a woman to leave meaningful work to follow him. That no one try to put Eros in bondage. But that no one put a cudgel in the hands of Eros. That
Quotations John Greenleaf Whittier (on outward evidence not availing us) They fail to read clearly the signs of the times who do not see that the hour is coming when, under the searching eye of philosophy and the terrible analysis of science, the letter and the outward evidence will not altogether avail us; when the surest dependence must be upon
Featured A Community that Does Not Yet Exist (Luke 14) This is the text I preached on this past Sunday. “When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished
Featured Meeting is a Muscle: Teaching Worship To Children / Chad Stephenson This is a guest post written by Chad Stephenson a Quaker from San Francisco. It is a response to the Friends Journal article “Bringing Children to Worship” and my follow-up article found here. This article comes largely from Chad’s work with children as a librarian as the San Francisco
Blog Entries Suicide and The Things We Carry: A Meditation on the Loss of a Father Suicide and The Things We Carry: A Meditation on the Loss of a Father
