The church is not a group of people who believe all the same things; the church is a group of people caught up in the same story, with Jesus at the center. from Inspired
00207 – What is the Church?
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00196 – New Way to Write Headlines
Sometimes I just want it to stop. Talk of COVID, looting, brutality. I lose my way. I become convinced that this “new normal” is real life. Then I meet an 87-year-old who talks of living through polio, diphtheria, Vietnam protests and yet is still enchanted with life....
00182 – No Ideal Church
There is no ideal church, no invisible church… No, it is the church of parking lots and potluck dinners that comprises the ones formed and forming the continuing story of Jesus Christ in the world.
00053 – Walk with the Wind
When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind,...
00042 – Good News: a Framing Story
At the center of the beloved community is good news—a framing story that calls humanity to creativity, harmony, reconciliation, justice, virtue, integrity, and peace, because these values reflect the character of the Creator whose world is our home and in whose...
00041 – Memory and Eucharist
Meals are the settings in which families rehearse their stories, repeatedly trading tales and histories, realizing afresh what it means to be a Webber, a Clapp, or whomever. Without memory there is no identity or vision and so no personhood. The Eucharist is the...
00003 – On Merry Christmas
The most common greeting of the first Christmas was not ‘Merry Christmas.’ It was ‘Don’t be afraid!’ It took real courage and perseverance to be at the manger: Mary’s courage, Joseph’s commitment to Mary, the awestruck obedience of shepherds, and the politically...