Last week I was given the opportunity to share my experience, strength, and hope at the Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs, NC. Most of the time in the rainy, humid mountains was spent eating and enjoying each other’s presence. Friends old and new created a space to be authentic and to discover parts of their selves that had been veiled by the bondage the world as we often perceive it. There is a danger to creating space. New spaces... Read more
The entire “War on Christmas” debate is exactly the opposite of what it should be. There is utterly no threat to my freedom to begin the Advent season of the Church year culminating in the celebration of the Nativity of Christ. The freedom to express my faith how my conscience sees fit is not the issue and will likely never be the issue in my lifetime. The 1st Amendment would have to be destroyed for me to have this right... Read more
I hear accolades of wonder and amazement every time we see the pope reaching out to the poor, washing feet of addicts, maintaining his vow of poverty, or telling us that the church should be more welcoming and forgiving. None of our gratitude goes undeserved and it is well placed towards these acts of love. The hope of reconciliation of the Catholic church, with the world, and with the East is something that should evoke thanksgiving for all Christians. But... Read more
Sarah Moon is offering a series of posts on pacifism that dispel some myths about pacifism and challenge those who call themselves pacifists. This morning, I was drawn to this statement: When you start to see dehumanization and oppression and poverty as violence, you have to admit that no matter how anti-violence you are, you may be participating in perpetuating it. You can fantasize about how you would dodge the draft, but if you’re restricting access to education and livable wages,... Read more
The chances of changing the world are slim. If you want to try, go for it. But the result might be guilt and misery. Regret from setting too lofty of goals is what tends to happen if those goals are unachievable. In a society where more is never enough we tend to aim for the fences every time. Baseball is more realistic than the fans. If you are hitting 30% of the time you are doing very well for yourself.... Read more
Scot McKnight is reading through N.T. Wright’s massive book, Paul and the Faithfulness of God. This is the hottest thing since the last baffling thing said out of the mouth of Pat Robertson or Mark Driscoll. The good news is that this is good to talk about and not a colossal waste of time. I have sat back for a while watching numerous, repeated debates about the bodily resurrection, the atonement and others. Now I see another theme return from... Read more
I have neglected this blog for too long. I spent a hiatus finishing my Ph.D. and thank God that is over. But like any commencement, a graduation just means that one enters into a new role in the journey of life and education. To recap the intent of this blog: After spending time working through the Emergent movement in the church, I entered into the Eastern Orthodox communion. What I am doing here is to re-engage that dialogue with my... Read more
It looks like Atonement is entering the orbit of the blogosphere again. Here is another post from Tony Jones and a response from Chris Rosebrough. Scott Paeth continues with a different set of interesting questions. Usually what happens is a misunderstanding of the teaching of the Church Fathers in order to support a view that is simply not there. usually this is in order to support the notion of Penal Substitutionary Atonement. The Orthodox Church does not teach this and... Read more
One of the principles of prayer is to recognize thoughts, emotions, and ideas to which we are attached and then let them go. As the Orthodox Cherubic hymn says, “Let us lay aside all earthly care.” The early church fathers and the monks and mystics through the ages have a similar term for this called dispassion. Both principles focus on a central aspect of human living: the greater we attach to things in the present, the greater our chances are... Read more
I have been on a hiatus because I have been competing a dissertation over the past several months. The bad news is that I have missed a lot of posts. The good news is that I’m defending this Spring! It’s nice to resurface 🙂 Read more
Emerging into Orthodoxy
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