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Moving To the Country…
I remember that song that came out in 1995: “Moving to the country, gonna eat a lotta peaches…” The video’s here. My favorite part is the ninjas at the end!! Now you may be wondering what this is all about, and perhaps I’m offering humor as a sort of distraction from something that’s difficult to…
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Jesus Loves Gay Porn Stars
Yup. I said it. Jesus loves gay porn stars. And what’s more, I believe it! A friend, classmate, and author named Steven Luff gave me a T-shirt just the other day with that saying on it, and it made me think. Just how far does Jesus’ love go? Is it possible that Jesus could really…
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Grace
I wrote a few weeks ago about the Profound Disappointment I was feeling after hearing that I did not pass the interview portion of examination for Commissioning in the Cal-Pac Conference of the UMC. And the responses have been overwhelming! More than once, I have been moved to tears… In that manly way of course. 😉…
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Profound Disappointment
In this process toward ordained ministry, I underwent a psychological assessment that determined that I top out the introvert/extrovert scale. And guess which end I was on? <insert my best imitation of a smile here> So it may make sense that I begin to process this profound disappointment in an outward way. To be honest,…
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Wesley’s Quadrilateral & Arizona’s Immigration Law
Wesley’s Quadrilateral is applied to the recently signed immigration law in Arizona…
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Politics in the Pulpit
So yesterday I preached on Acts 11:1-18 (Peter’s vision that prompted him to preach to the Gentiles) and John 13:31-35 (Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment: to love one another). In it, I applied the idea of “love in action” to the new immigration law in Arizona. I have to admit that I was…
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A Methodist & an Atheist Walk Into a Bar…
I’ve had some ongoing dialogue with an atheist (I’ve also heard the phrase non-theist) friend of mine. Yesterday he posted on my Facebook page a Daily Beast article quoting Orange County Pastor Wiley Drake who appears to be calling for the deaths of Congress members – and perhaps others – who support health care reform…
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Sex: Sympathizing with the Damned
The more I think about it, the more I think sex divides us more than it brings us together. How’s that for counter-intuitive?! And yet it seems to be all we can talk about. Or more accurately, it’s all we can think about as long as we don’t talk about it except that we can…
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The End of Science v. Religion? Not…
I just got home after attending the Clayton v. Dennett debate over at CGU. I’m still processing, and will likely want to watch the debate again. If you missed it or need to watch it again, the place to do so is here: Here are a few thoughts I’d wish to share, and then I’d…
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And So It Begins
I’ve been working long and hard toward the possibility of becoming an Ordained Pastor, and now I’m at a pretty big step. I’m from the United Methodist tradition, so there’s a long history on what has turned out to be a long and not-without-its-rewards process. AND, did I mention that it’s a LONG process?! Those…