Faith Challenges: It Ain't All Comfort

We commonly talk about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as a summary statement of what he taught over the course of his three years of ministry. There is no reason to take this as a sermon he taught in one and only venue. There is no reason to believe this is the only manner in which he related these words and teachings. There is ample reason to see between Matthew’ and Luke’s accounts that variations are as much the product of Jesus having offered this discourse on multiple occasions and in different ways. Over the last three and a half years, you have heard me repeat myself various times on various issues. I have not always used the same words. I have retold some stories with different meanings and applications. I have highlighted certain aspects at times, and emphasized other things on other occasions. Sometimes, my extemporaneous prayers have sounded a lot like how I led public prayer on other occasions. What we are reading here in Matthew chapters 5-7 is a summary of Je...

I’ve never really had trouble with the concept of Jesus’ virgin birth from a standpoint of it being an impossibility for God. I’ve long had issues with the way we often make it a huge issue, as though if Jesus were not born of a virgin, then he could not be God incarnate. Augustine’s doctrine of original sin as passed on biologically through male semen has never made any sense, and does not even take into account that a literal read of Genesis 3 would force an understanding that sin originated with Eve’s disobedience, not Adam’s. Sure, Luke’s story of the nativity begins with a narration underscoring a claim to Mary’s virginity through the time of Jesus’ birth. Mark does not mention Jesus’ birth. John does so only in a roundabout manner, saying only that the “Word became flesh and lived among us.” Matthew offers the only other account of Jesus’ birth in the Scriptures. Despite his quotation from the Septuagint of Isaiah 7:12, Matthew in no way attempts to portray Mary as bein...

#DoNoHarm It's a simple enough tenet. It's an easy expression of a major aspect of what it means to love one another. It's a basic understanding that we have some responsibility for how our actions have an impact beyond ourselves. Do no harm. No harm. None. That means I have to calculate things like collateral damage. It means I must take into consideration secondary complications, aftereffects, consequences I may not have yet considered. No, #DoNoHarm can end up getting a bit more complicated as we take a longer term look at the ripples extending from our actions or inaction. Love makes doing no harm a principle not to be violated. It means there are no justifications for harm. Harm is not loving. Harm violates love. Maybe it’s just looking for a short-cut. It’s still harm. It’s still not love. Love seeks a better way. There has to be a better way. There is a better way. It’s not that difficult. It just means making the needs and welfare of others a...

20 years and counting.... There is still pain. There is still loss. There are still repercussions in my life and that of my family. Mostly, I have healed. Then again, a memory surfaces, a sense of loss returns, a question of "What if?" arises, knowing there is no answer. I've healed. My family has healed. We have moved beyond. There are still scars. There are still echoes of pain and trauma. There are still moments calling me back to what we knew, what we lost. There is no going back. That's hard to say. It's hard to write. It's hard to accept that picking up what used to be will never come again. Perhaps part of the difficulty to forgive is in letting go of what will never be again. Conversely, forgiving would allow me to let go. It would allow a fuller acceptance of living the new reality before me. Do I want what I have? Or do I really just want what used to be? I've been moving toward forgiveness. I've been moving ahead....

Why do we seem always to miss the point when teaching Bible stories to children? It’s almost like we only care to teach them the most trivial aspects of the story at hand. We transform the story of David and Goliath into something far removed from determining who was the true God determining the outcome on the battlefield. We transform the story of Jericho into a wall falling down, rather than relying on God to do the impossible. We transform the stories of Samson as though to say that God wants men to be exceptionally strong, losing sight of just how Samson abused God’s power for his own purposes. We get to the story of Zacchaeus, and it’s all about how short he is and how he had to climb a tree to see Jesus. Not only are the kids cheated by the way we tell these stories, they grow up to be adults who have never reflected theologically on any story in their lives. The story of Jericho is about trusting God against insurmountable odds. It is about following through in ...

One of the most vile bits of popular theology I keep hearing is, "It's God's will." Excuse me, but not everything is God's will. If everything is God's will, by definition, sin does not exist. The God Jesus revealed does not exist in the worldview of the blanket statement that everything is God's will and design. I know that most people who resort to propagating the phrase and sentiment may mean well, but I'm pretty sure they have not thought it through. I am responsible for my inactions, my attitudes, my words, my decisions, and my actions. I have agency. I am more than a puppet on God's string. Some of the same voices who spew the notion that all things are God's will turn around and quickly tell others they are heretics, abominations, and God will spew them out of God's mouth. If everything is God's will, then why would God do so? The two concepts are at odds with each other. If what I am doing is condemnable by Go...

The Union County Pride Festival in Monroe, NC this last week was an experience like no other. On one hand, it was the second Pride I have ever attended. On the other, it was the first Pride I have ever helped organize. That made it an experience in which I had responsibility to help oversee aspects of the event and make sure it ran smoothly. Mostly, that responsibility lay along the lines of my ministerial role, even if I were not directly participating on behalf of the church I serve. Publicly, my first and foremost responsibility was for the Interfaith Celebration I wrote, organized, and directed ( unioncountypride.org/interfaith ). The service was planned to be inclusive for people of all and no faiths. That is in no way representative of any service I would normally lead. It was, however, necessary, given those for whom the celebration was prepared. Beyond simply being a celebration designed to call for inclusion and acceptance, the event was geared for people who have in...