Good and gracious God, We want a deeper faith. We want to know you more fully, but we are also sometimes worried to ask too many questions, to have it seem too much like we are uncertain. May we learn to hold on to a love that is so unquenchable it is willing to ask … Continue reading Asking Difficult Questions [A Prayer]
(Author note: From time to time, as my theological perspectives change, I revisit articles that I find important and give them new life with a new perspective. This is one such article). I have an article that I wrote about 4 years ago that is making its way around social medial again. The title of … Continue reading Jesus the Activist
Most of us could probably quote at least one verse of the Bible and most likely that verse would be John 3:16. It has been called the greatest love story ever to be told. Martin Luther, (the early church reformer) called the verse the Gospel in a nutshell. Someone else once said that “if the … Continue reading The Overprivileged Judgement of John 3:16
Good and gracious God, Rescue us from our self-importance. Pull us from the depths of our short-sighted selfishness. Remind us of the interconnectedness of life. Convict us with the reality that a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Inspire us toward lives lived out for others -- lives that persistently shout … Continue reading Bringing Justice [A Prayer]
Have you ever wonder how an all-loving God condemns LGBTQ folks to hell? It's something I call the “I'm Special Confirmation Bias.” There's nothing like taking a group that the Bible is mostly disinterested in (7 or fewer verses out of more than 31,000 verse) and turning them into one of the most vile groups … Continue reading Dear Christian, Vote for Love
Good and gracious God, In a world where you can love your family and love your car, it can be difficult to truly understand the love we are called to practice. With so many ideas and understandings of love we provide ourselves with a buffet of choices for how to treat our neighbor and still … Continue reading Loving Others [A Prayer]
Good and gracious God, Far too frequently we find ourselves taking on the moniker of Christian but not following through with the behavior which should accompany that name. We gossip about our neighbor. We dispense judgements against those who are different from us. We leap to negative conclusions about others when their behavior doesn't match … Continue reading Being a Follower [A Prayer]
Good and gracious God, In a world where you can both LOVE your family and LOVE Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream, it can be difficult to truly understand the love you call us to practice. With so many ideas and understandings of love we provide ourselves with a buffet of choices for how to … Continue reading Loving Abundantly [A Prayer]
[Part 3 of my Easter blog series. For part one click here]. Jesus rides into Jerusalem to shouts of “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” and then disrupts the current epicenter of the religious and political Powers That Be. I suspect that this was the beginning of the end … Continue reading Easter – Love in Action
Good and gracious God, We live in a world that swirls with violence. At times it seems that every news show and headline start with a story about hate, aggression or some show of force. It has become the water we swim in. It has become all too familiar. Even when we react with disdain … Continue reading Stop Violence [A Prayer]
Rev. Mark Sandlin 