When I was young I wanted the Church to be strong. Now I want her to be tender, because I have learned that only tenderness holds a wounded person long enough for them to heal.
JD Vance: “It is totally reasonable and acceptable for American citizens to look at their next-door neighbors and say, ‘I want to live next to people who I have something in common with. I don’t want to live next to four families of strangers.’”
This is supposed to be Christian?
Matthew 25 tells us that when Jesus returns and judges between the righteous and unrighteous, he doesn't judge them based on their orthodoxy, their patriotism, or their individual definitions of morality.
He judges them based on their compassion towards vulnerable people.
This man was a teacher for 40 years. At year 2 or 3, on Picture Day, he realized he'd worn the same outfit as the previous year, so he got the idea to continue to do so for his whole teaching career (1973-2012).
My ancestors were Christians and followed our Lord before the Western world became Christian.
It's not our fault you think Christianity started with Billy Graham.
Our souls ache for justice and redemption. A church shaped by Christ—marked by deep belonging and bold hope—can powerfully speak into that ache. @kaitlynschiess, 🎙️Holy Post 667
It’s possible to have a life that doesn’t appear fruitful to the world, but is faithful to God. This is the foolishness of the Cross.
The Cross looks like failure, but is the greatest act of faithfulness which has led to incalculable fruitfulness.
#HolyWeek
Whatever the Lord’s will for each of us in 2024 who follow Jesus, it will exceed our natural strengths, skills, talents, levels of experience, areas of expertise, intellectual acumen and worldly wisdom. The beautiful way Jesus set this faith thing up is that we can’t serve Jesus without Jesus. I pray this for all of us in 2024: more of Jesus.
A new year doesn’t magically make the previous year’s troubles go away.
But we are reminded that new beginnings are possible, and that God promises to go with us.
“Bad people break laws” is not a good argument against making laws. The Bible is full of admonishments to mitigate the effects of evil and to restrain the damage evil people can do by means of laws and the just ordering of society. Laws deter.
I read this sentence about one of the victims of the school violence in Nashville: “I’ll never understand why God chose to take them home.”
Let’s be clear: God did not choose to take anyone “home,” a fellow human ended their lives in a calculated, cold-blooded manner. 🧵
In a world torn by rage and anxiety, one of the greatest gifts followers of Jesus are called to offer is simple, non-anxious presence.
Not a presence removed from this reality, but a presence that refuses to be shaped by it.
This 500-year-old prayer has been a great gift to me over the years. When confronted by great suffering and events around me that seem to be spiraling out of control, it is helpful to remember that God's thoughts are not mine, nor are his ways like mine. #EHDiscipleship
When our story is told a century from now - and it will be - how much of the American church ran after idols and delusions, false christs and conspiracies, history will not only fault the pastors for not confronting us with the truth but the congregations who forbade them to.