I recently shared this quote by theologian N.T. Wright on Facebook: “The church is designed to be the small working model of new creation, to hold up before the world a symbol—an effective sign of what God has promised to do for the world. Hence, to encourage the rest of the world to say, ‘Oh, …
“A Knock at Midnight”
Celebrate MLK Day with some of my favorite excerpts from his landmark sermon called “A Knock at Midnight”: “Now this numerical growth of the Church is not to be over-emphasized. We must not succumb to the temptation of confusing spiritual power with big numbers. Jumboism, as someone has called it, is an utterly fallacious standard …
The Candy Store Church
We pour into our churches on Sundays, lock the doors, and sell sweets to one another. The sugar high exhilarates but by the parking lot the high subsides to a new low and the energy turns to lethargy. What’s worse is that our neighbors watch us come out looking more infirm than when we went …
I Still Love Her
Someone said: “Church history is a beautiful melody poorly performed." If you’ve read much of the stuff I’ve written in the past decade or so, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that I’m pretty hard on the Church. It’s true. I have been. I can’t help but notice how far from the mark many of us are, let …
Tune Up and Play Better
“Church History Is a Beautiful Melody Imperfectly Performed… Rejecting Christianity based on the terrible performance of some Christians is like dismissing Bach after hearing my feeble attempts to play his Cello Suites. … The original message of Christ resounded through the centuries like a beautiful melody, even as many Christians failed to play in tune.” …
