Three is a Magic Number

It happened again.   I have a stack of papers to correct and several papers to write.   ‘Tis the season in the teaching and learning semester.   While these papers pile up, I find myself in the midst of Holy Week angst.   Like last year , my mind keeps churning away on the cross.   Ugh! What does it mean? Here’s what God has challenged me with this year: The cross is not about the need for violence , but instead about the need for understanding. So much of current Christianity is obsessed with violence.   This week, we will hear how our sins nailed Jesus to the cross.   We will hear how our sins need violent punishment and how Jesus took the punishment for us so we don’t have to experience it.   We apparently are so bad that violence is required to be used against us.   On Friday, we will be urged to think about how the nails were made for us. But what if violence isn’t required to conquer that which keeps me separated from God?   What if the cross isn’t about satisfying a vio

I'm at a church planting event in Chicago.  The model is rubbing me a bit, not because it's a bad model, but because I'm realizing I see "church" differently than the presenter.  I've realized this is a great opportunity for me articulate my own ecclesiology (i.e. "What is the church?").  I wrote this awhile ago and decided it was time to put it up. ------------ I want to pastor a church which is created and recreated, over and over again,      as a flexible and changing expression of the community’s faith.      out of the community’s cultural context.      with the purpose of bringing the Kingdom of God to the here and now. I want to pastor a church where people explore their spirituality,      on the journey of creating the church together, not at the destination of finishing the church.      by asking questions of themselves and of others.      by looking to diverse perspectives, instead of seeking hard answers.      recognizing p