Posts from the Blog of an (un)Tamed Cynic
This is a sermon I preached yesterday. The text is Acts 9:36-43. Eleven days ago violent storms ripped through many parts of our country. I remember seeing a news report about a massive tornado in northern Arkansas that, among other buildings and homes, completely destroyed a church. No one was injured, but I couldn’t help [...]
Along with a lot of other Christians, Presbyterians are too damn in love with words. Though celebrating the life of the mind as a way of faith is one of the things that drew me to Presbyterianism, I’m realizing now that sometimes we let ourselves get carried away. And, of course, we’re not alone. Think [...]
Was it providential (or synchronistic) that this devotion I wrote over a month ago would come out two days after Richard Mourdock’s comments about God’s causality when it comes to rape and conception? In any event, here is another reflection on suffering and divine causality. This appears as today’s Fourth Church Daily Devotion, part of [...]
Debates about abortion aren’t typically in my wheelhouse, but reflecting on God’s activity in the world is. In particular, I am consistently fascinated—and mostly perplexed—by the theological concept of providence, the notion that God somehow controls all aspects of human history. Yesterday an Indiana Republican running for the Senate related a strong understanding of God’s [...]
Last month Tony Jones challenged progressive Christian bloggers to write something substantive about God. (Read all about it here.) I responded with a post called “What I Hold On To.” My post, along with many others, has been curated into a really impressive collection over at Patheos. Check out the first installment of #progGOD and [...]
