I received a phone call recently that made my heart drop into my stomach and I’m not certain that it’s made its way back just yet. There is something about austerity that grips me in a way that nothing else does. It angers and saddens me beyond words, especially when it comes from those who profess a message contrary to that sort of cold, rigid attitude. Especially when it leads to injustice. I sat on the other end of the…
Note: I wrote this narrative a few years ago, and as with any narrative of a text, I took creative liberty. This text always leaves me weeping because it’s so clear that Christ is for the ones whom the kingdom of heaven has been shut. The one who’s been shamed and counted worthless by the religious elite. The outcast and the despicable. The sinner. It is here that I see Christ with a heart of mercy and I realize that…
Oh, friends. It is with a tear stained face that I am introducing you to Rachel Cohen. Full disclosure, I admit to you that I am no longer a fan of “Christian music”. This is unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Because this is art. This is event. John 8 is a passage that has always been deeply personal for me. I’ve written narrative of my own encounter with it, that I’ll post in a couple of days. This is Rachel’s…
Since I have a new article over at Key Life today, I decided to direct your attention over there instead of writing a new devotional. Here’s a preview: I have become addicted to a new Hulu series, The Path. It’s a compelling story about a man caught up in a Meyerist cult. The prime belief held by the Meyerists is in a supreme “light” and followers of this light must ascend rungs of a spiritual ladder in order to advance…
Note: As a writer, I seem to always have endless word documents pulled up with random illustrations on them, waiting for inspiration to hit me, turning it into full thoughts worthy of public consumption. Or at least not, too terrible. This is one of those that I’ve been tinkering with for a while and while knowing the caveat I needed to make, I couldn’t get the words to match. Until a few conversations took place via social media. I’m thankful…
I was a teenager when Lifeway Christianity was at its peak. I rolled up into my high school, freshman year, determined to be the biggest Jesus freak on campus. I owned all of the most clever Christian bookstore t-shirts and brought my bible to school most days. I joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes club on Friday mornings, even though I wasn’t an athlete. I sported those WWJD bracelets like they were the keys to the kingdom. I was a…
“It’s better to be hated for who you are, than to be loved for someone you are not. It’s a sign of your worth sometimes, if you’re hated by the right people.” – Bette Davis Bette Davis has become one of my favorite feminists in recent history. She was a pioneer for women in Hollywood during the 1960’s. I read her autobiography this past year and while it’s clear she still had residual misogynic language, many of the things she…
As much as I love writing gospely things, I love co-collaborating with other people even more. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately: I recently sat down with my co-host, Lauren RE Larkin, on our podcast, Ezer Uncaged, to discuss The Excellent Wife, by Martha Peace. Years ago while Lauren was ripping this book apart in her masters thesis, I was being ripped apart by this book, on the ground in fundamentalism. On this episode, academia and lady laity meet…
My friend Marci Preheim is here this week, hanging out with me. So instead of a devotional, I thought it would be appropriate to share an excerpt from her book, Little Saviors: How Moralism Kills Intimacy and the Gospel of Grace. From Chapter 8: Moralism and the False Religion of “Cleaning Yourself Up” See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather…
Some will not be able to say this, though they may actually love Jesus more than they are aware they do. If you are one who would like to love Him but who has not been able to do it, at least to your satisfaction, let me assure you that you will never learn to love by imposing it upon yourself as a duty. You will never love by saying “I will love, I will love, I will love” anymore…