I drove by a church readerboard last week that said, To know God is to love God. Simple enough, right? A little pithy. Maybe too simple, but memorable. Initially, I didn’t think much of the philosophical/theological/epistemological statement. In a sense, it’s absolutely true. You can’t love something, or more specifically someone, you don’t know. Yet,…
All posts in theology
An Honest Assessment
If I’m honest, I’m often ignorant of my own ineptitude. My pride tells me that I’m far better off than could ever be true. I like to believe I’m doing such a good job, that I’m actually better than those around me. The flip side to this is that when I take in that reality…
What Kobe’s Passing Teaches Us About Life Today
I was standing in the front of the church sanctuary, saying goodbye to a few volunteers helping with the worship team when my brother said, “wow, um, Kobe Bryant just died.” At first, I didn’t believe him, which is probably more of a statement of my own cultural enmeshment than anything—nothing can be taken at…
The Unlived Life
In episode 5 during the 3rd season of the Netflix series The Crown, Queen Elizabeth II (marvelously played by Olivia Colman) spends a month traveling to different parts of the world studying best practices for raising horses for racing. Toward the end of her trip she shares with her friend Henry Herbert that the trip was one…
The Positivity Gospel
The positivity gospel of “you are enough” and “your positive words can overcome your negative world” is all around us, but what if it isn’t true? On this episode Eric Nelson outlines what the positivity gospel is, what it gets wrong, how to handle conversations with those sharing its message, and much more. Listen to…
The Ministry of Touch with Lore Wilbert
The #metoo #churchtoo movement has vividly shown how broken our understanding of touch is. At times we misuse and abuse physical touch, and then negatively react to these realities by offering weak side hugs. This much is clear: we don’t know how to approach physical touch well. Listen as Lore Wilbert approaches an obviously needed…