One of my favorite Christmas carols of all time is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” It’s beautiful, almost haunting at times as the song weaves the cosmic weight of the holiday with the traditional occurrences of celebration. “Then pealed the bells more loud and deep God is not dead nor doth He sleep…
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There are many things I bemoan in this life, in our U.S. culture. The divisiveness. The unrelenting messages we’re fed that we don’t have enough, don’t make enough, and just plain aren’t enough. The fact that our children are growing up faster and faster, forgetting how to play younger and younger, captivated by screens, tainted…
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This is the third post in a series discussing the book Dangerous Presence by Jason Butler. You can read more or purchase the book here. “Americans typically don’t like risk. We see risk as bad, dangerous. Risk can get us into trouble, ruin our finances, and mess up our future. Most of the time, we…
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He’s exactly what you would expect of a 6th grade boy. High energy, an alternately charming and maddening blend of extreme silliness and budding sarcasm, an affinity for jokes involving rude body noises and a distaste for homework. He can be tough, he puts effort in to his “devil may care” demeanor. Tried to cover…
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This post is the second in a series discussing the book Dangerous Presence: Following Jesus Into the City by Jason Butler. You can read more about or purchase the book here. What About Bob? Butler begins his second chapter by introducing readers to his friend Bob. “[Bob is] older than most of my friends. At seventy-five,…
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“Jesus and justice go together” he said. It’s no news to me at this point, in some ways it’s astonishing to me that this is still news to some of my brothers and sisters in the U.S. Church. I forget sometimes that my journey into God’s heart for justice is only a few years…
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We don’t really celebrate Halloween in our home. It just doesn’t jive with our beliefs and our ethos as a family. But I’m not here to talk about that today, that’s another conversation for another time and likely a conversation we should have in person. Today I want to talk to you about the Halloween…
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I am so excited to be sharing this book with you today! Recently Jason Butler the lead pastor at Transformation City Church released his first book: Dangerous Presence: Following Jesus into the City. So, yes, the book is written by the lead pastor of the church I serve in; it is in large part the…
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I have a few goals as a parent. I want to teach my daughter to love deeply, to live fully, to value community, to consider the needs of others before her own. I want her to know and own her strengths, to lean into her talents and callings, and to know also her weaknesses, to…
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If you do nothing else, please watch this: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Wf8y_5Yn4&w=420&h=315] The reads: Faith, Doubt and the Idol of Certainty “An idol, I argue, is anything we use in place of God to meet this core need. While many people try to meet this need with the idols of wealth, power, success, sex and other such things,…
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