Three is a Magic Number

Below is a piece I wrote on my work with Reimagining Theological Education , a Convergence initiative.  Check them out on Facebook and web . -------------- In seminary cafeterias across the country, students are having the same type of conversation over lunch. “When am I actually going to use my understanding of… conciliar magisterium… oikonomia… Arminianism… docetism… atonement theology… etc., etc., etc. How much of this actually matters to my future work?” The cry for relevancy is an age-old song of students. If the cafeteria tables could talk, they would tell of generations of students who questioned the applicability of their classes. After all, research on adult learning has exhibited the importance and power of relevancy . The rate of change in the ministry field is magnified due to the shifting landscape of religion in America and also technology. In order to stay relevant, theological educators need not only reassess what is taught but also reconsid...

Below is a devotional I wrote for the Fast of Embodied Solidarity .  Check them out on Facebook.  If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.  -Matthew 5:29 When I was a child acting unruly, my dad would say, “cut it out,” while giving me a stern eye. I now find myself using the same phrase with my own children, complete with the gesture of running my pointer finger across my neck. During Lent, our Christian tradition convicts us to give things up.  Christians across the world examine what parts of their lives they need to cut out, or as the Scripture says, cut off.  Some people cut out pleasurable activities or objects with hopes to grow a deeper faith.  Others cut out something destructive in order to heal themselves or the world (nicotine, plastic bags, gasoline, losing one’s temper, Facebook). The Embodied Solidarity Fast...