Dear Church, It pains and sickens me to post this photo, but this is where we find our nation at this moment. The worst part of Wednesday, in my opinion, was all the people carrying Jesus signs and crosses and dragging Jesus’ name into this display of hatred and evil. Last Wednesday morning, I headed … More Correct, Rebuke and Encourage
The story of the wise men on camels bringing their gifts is intertwined with the story of an insecure, paranoid, narcissistic tyrant orchestrating terror and chaos from his palatial office. Listen to the familiar story again, this time with your eyes glued on the pathetic sociopath spinning lies and plotting peril in the Christmas story. … More Tyranny & the Wise Way Out
When radicalized Trump supporters, incited by the Presidents ongoing lies and toxic twitter, stormed the capitol yesterday and desecrated the temple of our democracy, many churches called an emergency prayer meeting last night. We called a parking lot prayer meeting as well, and I issued a pastoral letter in response to the day’s disturbing events. … More Trumpism and the Failure of Discipleship
Today we are watching our nation’s Capitol, the great symbol and center of our democracy, be stormed by protestors, while our Congressional leaders hide behind locked doors, and the sitting president hides behind his twitter account. These are unnerving sights to behold and a frightening moment for our democracy. As Christians, what are we to … More A Call to Prayer & Repentance for the Soul of our Nation
This ancient shipwreck story is a timely reminder that a ship divided against itself cannot stay afloat; we must come together if we are to make it through the night. … More Shipwrecked 4: Breaking Bread in the Political Storm
When a “ship” (or society) begins to come apart at the seams, you reinforce it with what has hitherto bound it together, and toss overboard the things that are sinking it. … More Shipwrecked 3: Wise Leadership in the Political Storm
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14 This oft quoted scripture is a classic “if/then” conditional promise from God. … More God, Heal Our Land
What about abortion? Should this one issue determine how Christians vote? … More Abortion: The Reality Behind the Rhetoric
From Walter Kim, President, National Association of Evangelicals Dear friends, For U.S. citizens, the next couple weeks have many of us focused on one of the fundamental responsibilities of our citizenship: to vote, electing our governmental leaders. The right to vote is a significant responsibility – one not available to all people in our world … More Voting as Faithful Stewardship
It is important to love one’s neighbor — but in America, individual freedom is often more prized than biblical admonitions. … More Wearing Masks, Loving Neighbors & the Mark of the Beast
Sometimes God calms the storm, but other times the ship goes down. We need to represent Christ in either case. … More Shipwrecked 1: Hymenaeus and Alexander
Here is a statement from The National Association of Evangelicals that I can get behind. -JB As evangelical Christians, we are called by Jesus to love God and to love our neighbor. As citizens who follow this call, we must engage with humility, civility, intellectual rigor and honesty in the complex and contentious social issues that … More For the Health of the Nation
I went to the polling place to cast my votes, and ended up casting non-partisan prayers for all the candidates. As I stood over that ballot with pen in hand, looking at all the names and offices, tears dropped down indiscriminately on the ovals below. I turned that little space into a prayer closet and portal to the King of Kings. … More Prayers & Tears at the Poll
“Give me liberty, or give me death!” said Patrick Henry in a famous speech in 1775 that helped ignite the American Revolution and the founding of this nation. Now in 2020, with a nation divided by ideologies and the masses unable to engage in a good natured civil dialogue, I want to yell from the rooftops a new rally cry: “Give us nuance, or give us death!” … More Give Us Nuance, or Give Us Death!
How can children of a wandering Aramean whose holy vocation is to “be a blessing to all nations” be comfortable with rhetoric so passionately America-focused? How can citizens of an “others-first” Kingdom rally around such an “us-first” platform? … More A Wandering Aramean Was My Father
Will the American church heed the Trumpet blast, or be animated instead by Trump’s twitter blasts? … More Trump’s Blasts, or the Trumpet Blast?
“A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land of the so-called free. The prophets prophesy lies…and my people love it this way.” … More A Horrible & Shocking Thing Has Happened
Let us seek to be a breath of fresh air with our words, not fire breathing dragons. As the wildfires burn uncontrollably across the west, we do well to ponder the fiery wisdom and warning of James on the power of the tongue. … More Don’t Fuel the Fire
We’ve been taught to see evil and injustice in mainly individualistic terms. The Book of Revelation confronts and exposes oppressive “cultures” and exploitative economies represented by the “Beasts” and “Babylon” and the Harlot. This makes Revelation a very timely book as we expose aspects of American society and our history that has the “marks of the beast.” … More Sermon: Apocalypse Now Part 4 – “Babylon & the Mark of the Beast”
The lesson that God would judge a city for its economic practices is a sobering thought. The fact that much of the condemnation appears to stem from its self-indulgence should hit with particular force at modern consumer culture … More Revelation Reveals a Tale of Two Cities
On this Super Tuesday, remember to not let your civic duty eclipse your ultimate allegiance. Go vote at the poll, but save your worship for the pew. … More Decline of Church, Increase of Politics
Your favorite candidate will win or lose based on how our country votes this November. However, the church will win or lose based on our behavior between now and then. … More Why Christians Shouldn’t Argue Over Politics
My teacher Scot McKnight just published a piece at Jesus Creed, now hosted at Christianity Today online, warning Evangelicals of the trap of “statism” running amok in Christian circles. This statism was on full display in the reactions to Mark Galli’s editorial piece on Trump a few weeks back. Here’s a couple paragraphs, but you … More Evangelicalism’s Big Trap
To all God’s beloved living in the United States today, Paul would write urging us, like the church in ancient Rome, to be a set-apart people, setting up little beachheads of Christ’s eternal kingdom right here and now in the swamp of partisan politics and idolatrous nationalistic sentiment. … More A ‘Set Apart’ People in a Partisan Culture
‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels . . . I was a foreigner and you did not invite me in.” The Gospel lesson in this week’s lectionary reminds us that Jesus was no lap cat savior but the roaring Lion of Judah. He came … More Welcome the Foreigner: Fiery Words from the Prince of Peace
Kingdom Harbor 