Salvation is not something that happens only at the end of a person's life. Salvation happens every time someone with a key uses it to open a door he could lock instead. from Leaving Church: A Memoir of...
04313 – Salvation is not…
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04264 – No Longer America?
Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America. When America consists of one leader and 158 million followers, it will no longer be America.
04123 – Western Individualism?
I suspect that Western individualism has done more than any other single factor to anesthetize and even euthanize the power of the Gospel. Salvation, heaven, hell, worthiness, grace, and eternal life all came to be read through the lens of separate ego, crowding God's...
03935 – Religion and Our Emotions
If our religion is based on salvation, our chief emotions will be fear and trembling. If our religion is based on wonder, our chief emotion will be gratitude.
03598 – Soul-Searching
Perhaps the path or method of soul search is merely recognition that all our acts of knowledge are attempts to remember what we once knew, but we have forgotten. Perhaps all of our attempts are sacred actions whose profound motive is salvation or redemption. Perhaps...
02691 – We Don’t Want to See Suffering
Salvation in Jesus’ name is treated as a cure all. Supposedly, there is no suffering once we join the church, and if there is any cause for discomfort, then we vote the pastor out at the next business meeting. Ironically, we worship Jesus, who showed his wounds, but...
02686 – Christ, with Me
Christ, be with me,Christ before me,Christ behind me,Christ in me, Christ beneath me,Christ above me,Christ on my right, Christ on my left,Christ where I lie,Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise,Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,Christ in the mouth...
02630 – This Here Flesh
I think awe is an exercise, both a doing and a being. It is a spiritual muscle of our humanity that we can only keep from atrophying if we exercise it habitually…Awe is not a lens through which to see the world but our sole path to seeing. Any other lens is not a lens...
02110 – Pay Attention. Be Ready.
I am a pastor. My work has to do with God and souls--intense mysteries that no one has ever seen at any time....I don't want to end up a bureaucrat in the time-management business for God or a librarian cataloguing timeless truths. Salvation is kicking in the womb of...
01309 – Salvation is Both Personal and Social
Salvation is personal, but this hardly needs emphasis... What does need emphasis is that Salvation in the Bible is also social. Ancient Israel's story is a story of the creation of a new people, a nation, a community. Salvation is about life together. Salvation is...