the bravest thing is hope

sermon on the mount

2009-09-11T12:55:00.009-06:00

Mars Hill Michigan is starting a 6 month series on the Sermon on the Mount this Sunday. This is one of my favorite (challenging and encouraging and hopeful) passages in the Bible, so I'm pretty excited to join with them over the next half year. As they like to do on these big series, they'll be publishing a page containing verses, thoughts, practices, and prayers at the beginning of the week so

radiohead - all i need

2009-08-26T10:42:00.003-06:00

Two Kinds of Grave

2009-08-14T16:39:00.007-06:00

The gospels speak of two kinds of grave.One was whitewashed, the other was empty.The whitewashed grave is the symbol of the false facade, of the outwardly beautiful appearance that does not last.The empty grave was the grave of the God-man, Jesus Christ, the one who was himself emptied….Around the emptiness of the grave were born both the hope of the future and the Church,

Peter Rollins chat transcript

2009-08-12T10:28:00.006-06:00

Peter Rollins did a twitter chat interview with Third Way Magazine yesterday. I put together a transcript for those who would be interested. It was fun to see Peter limited to short answers (twitter only allows messages to be 140 characters long), as he usually has long, detailed responses which bunny-trail in several different directions (and you wonder why I like him!). I cleaned it up a little

the Gospel

2009-07-27T00:23:00.002-06:00

I believe this is from Nooma 015 | You. This is what we are made, and saved, for.

how i get inspired

2009-06-12T09:53:00.006-06:00

some cool art found on ShareSomeCandy, starting with my all-time favorite.

a million miles

2009-06-10T10:52:00.005-06:00

Donald Miller's new book "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" is coming out soon, and he's posted the first 3 chapters of it online to give a taste and get some feedback. I highly enjoy reading his books so if you've never read anything of his you are in for a nice surprise. Don said in his blog that this book starts a little slow, so that's why you get to read 3 chapters instead of just one

Free Eugene Peterson Audio Book

2009-06-01T11:27:00.004-06:00

Hey, I just got an email about this! Download an audio book version of Eugene Peterson's "Christ Plays in Ten-Thousand Places" for free. I love The Message and have heard a lot of wonderful things about Peterson's other books, including this one. Give it a listen. ChristianAudio.com also has a lot of other quality audio books from some of my favorite authors, which might be a great option for

re-learning old practices

2009-05-31T10:26:00.004-06:00

For 3 years I lived according to a certain routine that brought me closer to God than I had ever been before. It was such a formative and beautiful time in my life even though it consisted of long days going in multiple directions, lots of emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual stretching, and intense practice of the disciplines. But somehow over time I began to weaken. The things that had

mewithoutYou (again)

2009-04-24T13:53:00.011-06:00

I just love this band. Their new cd (it’s all crazy ! it’s all false ! it’s all a dream ! it’s alright) comes out at the end of May, but it got leaked early and is all over the internet, including on youtube. It's definitely a lot different from their style on previous albums, and could even be described as 'hippie', as my friend Ryan called it in disappointment! Several of the songs are from the

questions from "The Orthodox Heretic"

2009-04-01T17:23:00.010-06:00

Here are some of the questions that I draw from the story of "The Orthodox Heretic".The first point the town leaders bring up is that they need to return the man to the government he escaped from so that the rest of the town is not endangered. They know that this man will be punished by the authorities, but they believe that it has to be done or the entire town will suffer. In their view, the

some thoughts about "The Orthodox Heretic"

2009-04-01T15:26:00.005-06:00

A couple weeks ago I posted the video clip of a parable from Peter Rollins new book "The Orthodox Heretic". One of my friends, Matt, commented on the post and asked me to post some of my thoughts about the story. I didn't want to right away, for a few reasons. I didn't really know what I thought about it. That's kind of why I posted it. I think the intention of the parable is not to declare some

aware

2009-03-23T10:00:00.009-06:00

Earth is crammed with heaven,and every common bush afire with God,but only he who seestakes off his shoes.-Elizabeth Barrett BrowningListen......or readWe believe that the world God created is good. That he creates people in his image, and that no amount of darkness can erase that divine imprint. Because we believe that all of life is sacred, we look for God's fingerprints everywhere. We

Patrick's Breastplate

2009-03-16T18:28:00.004-06:00

This is a prayer passed down from the very beginnings of Celtic Christianity. The legend says that when Patrick and his missionary companions were traveling to preach to a pagan Irish king, God warned Patrick in a dream that a group of druids would be waiting to ambush and kill the missionaries. At this time, druidic mysticism was the religion of power, and a core belief they held was that the

The Orthodox Heretic: A Parable

2009-03-12T20:39:00.009-06:00

I want to share a parable from Peter Rollins, a leader of an experimental faith community in Belfast, Ireland called Ikon. He has a new book coming out in a few weeks called "The Orthodox Heretic: and Other Impossible Tales" that is made up entirely of parables. The video below is Peter reading one of the parables from this book. I think it's pretty interesting. Remember, the point of this

Parables

2009-03-08T13:19:00.003-06:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about parables. I've always noticed them and enjoyed reading them, but often approached them like a story problem on a math test. You know, "A freight train leaves a station traveling at 30 mph. A passenger train leaves 1 hour later traveling at 50 mph. At what time will the passenger train overtake the freight train?" It looks like a story, but we all know there

ash

2009-02-25T12:50:00.002-07:00

a prayer for ash wednesday O Lord, who hast mercy upon all,take away from me my sins,and mercifully kindle in methe fire of thy Holy Spirit.Take away from me the heart of stone,and give me a heart of flesh,a heart to love and adore Thee,a heart to delight in Thee,to follow and enjoy Thee, for Christ's sake.Amen.- St. Ambrose

mewithoutYou - Paper Hanger

2009-02-17T11:40:00.015-07:00

view lyrics in pop-up window so you can read while watching the videoNot one motion of her gesture could I forgetThe prettiest bag lady I ever metPushing her cart in the rainThen gathering plastic and glassShe watched the day passNot hour by hourBut pain by painIf I was a basket filled with holesThen she was the sand I tried to holdAnd ran out behind meAs I swung with some invisible handsI

with or without you

2009-02-11T09:56:00.004-07:00

From my Celtic Daily Prayer book this morning:In Your presence there is an absencesilencing my greatest fear.It is with You that I know the essenceof what is life, now that You're near.It is in the absence of Your presencethat I rekindle my desire;and it is when I am without Youthat I burn, an inextinguishable fire.In Your presence there is an absenceof all that preys upon my mind;for my heart's

Happy Birthday Mars Hill Grand Rapids!

2009-02-10T16:53:00.007-07:00

On Sunday, Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan celebrated 10 years. As part of the service, they had individuals from Grand Rapids and around the world share stories of how much God has done through this community. I didn't hear about it until today as I was a week behind in podcasts, so I didn't send them an email. But if I did, I would have tried to thank them for giving me new

who are you?

2009-02-04T16:41:00.004-07:00

From Rob Bell's counselor, when Rob was breaking down from being the "successful pastor", trying to always be everything to everyone:"You're job is the relentless pursuit of who God made you to be. Anything else is sin."Who are you?

come all you weary - thrice

2009-02-02T16:03:00.002-07:00

christarchy

2009-02-01T13:06:00.009-07:00

I like to think about what social structures and politics would be like if people really submitted themselves to Jesus as Lord. On a very simple level, I think it would look like Jesus in charge and everyone else equal yet submissive to each other. No command structures or authority hierarchies. No power struggles among men and women, rich and poor, young and old, modern and postmodern, Christian

A Parable by Philip Harrison

2009-02-01T12:00:00.002-07:00

As "borrowed" from my friend in Long Beach, Nate Wigfield. Read his blog!The other day I had a dream. I dreamed I arrived at the gates of heaven, heavy-shut, pure oak, beveled and crafted, glinting sharp in the sunlight. St. Peter stood to greet me; the big man wore brown, smile set deep against his ruddy cheeks."You're here," he said."I am," I said."Great to see you - been expecting you," he

a big bucket

2009-01-27T12:51:00.001-07:00

So this Great Emergence recap thing just isn't happening right now. Right after I read the book it was fresh and exciting, but now it's like a book report. To steal from someone who I often steal from, "it's the difference between 'having to say something' and 'having something to say'." I don't want to just regurgitate a few quotes because it so misses the point of what the book is about. The