> outsiders
The Outsider Is My Salvation: From the Archives
[callout]This post first appeared in May, 2016. It is good reminder to us now.[/callout] If the person of Jesus is my salvation, then where is Jesus found? In those who are "other" from us, from me. Liberty, freedom, and salvation are in the outsider. [featured-image...
Exile, Grief, and Hope
The Hebrew word for exile is galah which means “to strip naked or bare.” Our ancient spiritual ancestors experienced this, and we have the strange opportunity to experience it now. [featured-image single_newwindow="false"] A Brief Survey of Biblical Exile The people...
The Outsider Is My Salvation
If the person of Jesus is my salvation, then where is Jesus found? In those who are "other" from us, from me. Liberty, freedom, and salvation are in the outsider. [featured-image single_newwindow="false"] Peter Rollins calls Christianity the economy of the nobodies...
Hell Might Be Empty
[callout]A version of this post also appears on Patheos at the Unfundamentalist Christian blog.[/callout] Theologian Jurgen Moltmann once said in a discussion, "In the final analysis I believe hell will be empty." [featured-image single_newwindow="false"] God's Future...
How Shaving and Following Jesus Are Related
For years I bought into the shaving hype: Gillette razors. I always shelled out for the newest razor with 3 blades, then 4, then 5 including one on the back of the razor, even one that uses a battery and vibrates. [featured-image single_newwindow="false"] Then at the...
On Belonging
Sometimes our architecture and geographic plans can speak truths into our lives. [featured-image single_newwindow="false" alt="belonging"] Though we don't currently live on a cul-de-sac, we've resided on several in the past. One of our previous homes was located on a...
Your Story Matters
Maybe you’ve been told, directly or indirectly, that your story doesn’t matter. That’s a lie. The Story of You means something.
Why Suffering Yields Newness
I haven't met many people who like suffering. If anything, our frailty, pride, and sense of self seeks to avoid suffering. But maybe the willingness to alleviate and evade all suffering at all costs is misguided. I've been thinking a lot about newness, new birth, new...
On the Gift of Nothingness
Recently, while reading through Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth), one of my favorite sections of Hebrew scripture, I remembered how nothingness can be a gift. [featured-image single_newwindow="false"] What if we really viewed life as a gift? This is the only conclusion we can...
The Outsiders’ Lament
[callout]This post also appears on ALTARWORK.com.[/callout] This isn't ideal: to be the outsiders, to be outside of your inside; yet here we are, some by choice, others by circumstance; all of us, sadly, by purloined precedent. This is not the practice He inspired,...
They Kill the Prophets
Jesus is recorded as having said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you ..." (Luke 13.34). It's not too hard to see why prophets are rejected, even killed. We prophets are hard to tolerate for too long. [featured-image...
Big Question :: Do You Need to Go to Church to Follow Jesus?
BIG QUESTIONS are short video talks on life, God, faith, theology, discipleship, and walking with Jesus. Short Video Talk Big Question #3 :: Do You Have to Go to Church to Follow Jesus? from Brian Niece on Vimeo.