The Gospel of Luke juxtaposes two different responses to God’s deliverance. In being pitted against each other we quickly see how God’s coming pushes people in two directions. The question left for you is simply, which response is yours? The Doubting One Luke 1:5-25 recounts the story of Zechariah being told by the angel Gabriel…
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Shaken By Ultimate Calamities
Last week as news headlines were again gripped by terror—the new normal in today’s world—I began to wonder why Christians seem to react the same as everyone else: fight for your rights, demonize the supposed enemy, declare war on anyone who disagrees with you. These reactions, based completely on fear, define who we are as…
When Obedience Over Politics Puts You in the Minority
“You are the God who sees me. I have now seen the One who sees me.” The God of the Bible is the God of the outcast, the helpless, the homeless, and the refugee. In Genesis 16 Hagar flees from her angry boss Sarai. Not long before this moment when Hagar is forced to flee…
To Hell in a Hand Basket
I’ve noticed a common denominator in conversations surrounding me, and conversations I’ve been invited into as well: they start with a current event, and they end with a Christian’s worry about the future. “If things are this bad now, can you imagine how bad they’re going to get?” I call this Doomsday Theology. It’s the…
The Problem So Easily Ignored: Race, Education, and Sacrifice
Recently This American Life released two episodes surrounding Ferguson, Michael Brown, and integration within the American education system. Dr. Kamau Bobb examines the role of the business community in addressing challenges in public education. Despite the charged issues, the producers created the kind of episode worth listening to: prompting more questions, wondering where you might fit…
Drowning in the Stain: Sexualized Swiping and Hook-Up Culture
In the year 2000, award-winning American novelist Philip Roth published a book titled The Human Stain. The book is a loose continuation of 2 prior books, whose main character follows significant cultural events during his lifetime. The Human Stain follows a college professor named Coleman Silk. Coleman is a fair-skinned black man, who decided in…