When one is dealing with improvisation in a musical or dramatic setting there is a tension between the rules, the context, and the freedom of the artist. While one has a freedom to offer ideas and expression, it needs to be part of the music playing (in the right key), or true to the larger context of the drama on stage. When reading text you need to stay with the broader context of the writings, the tradition that you come out of, and/or the community you are a part of. You can push and explore, but there needs to be some relevancy. Good improve works when things make sense and at the same time push the text and the audience.
Read MoreBoth/And... Ouch My Head Hurts!
Originally from May 27, 2014 - a conversation with Father Anthony Perkins about incarnation and Orthodox theology
Read MoreEducate Me!
In the life of the church there is learning and shaping. In those instances more is spent on the sharing of information, but still a shaping of the body occurs. It is good and important to be aware of this and to be deliberate in shaping and helping to form people in good habits of faith. What that looks like will vary from community to community. It happens whether people are deliberate or not, so make it deliberate.
Read MoreDoes This Episode Exist?
Doubt can challenge assumptions about God, Christ, and faith in general that may not hold up to the realities of life. This does not mean one should throw out all understandings and aspects of faith, but that things should be revisited pushed and perhaps changed.
Read MoreWho Are You With?
With every group, gathering, and people that we associate boundaries and lines are drawn that shape our identity and we constantly negotiate and navigate those boundaries.
Read MoreNot In My House
it is good to be different. It is important to know why you are different and to embrace those differences. It is good to learn about other people’s difference. It is good to share and learn. Denominations can be good, as long as we no longer practice exclusion let go of the demand to be right we can do great things with each other.
Read MorePopcorn!
in the arts you can find an expression of humanity’s struggle with the divine, with understanding the role of God in one’s life, and/or with a struggle to exist or live to the fullest. As Kathryn says, it is the narrative aspect of film that connects with so many people at different levels.
Read MoreUnselfish Worship
don’t be so darn selfish about worship. It is not always about what you like, but where you can find God. The worship service is not just about you but is about a community gathering together to find and encounter God and that will vary for every person. What may not speak to you may speak strongly to someone right next to you and part of being a community is celebrating the different ways God reaches and speaks to us.
Read MoreWe are Free to be Wrong (or Something)
The covenant with Abraham goes before Sinai, before the law, and reminds us the God is the God of Isaac and Ishmael. There is a universal connection with such a covenant that can open things up.
Read MoreYou Are Getting Holy
Yes, we all tend to make bad decisions from time to time getting in the way of the process. Sometimes they are really, really bad decisions, but the potentiality is still there to grow in the divine.
Read MoreThere is Forgiveness?
The crucifixion and resurrection are important, perhaps the apex of Christian faith, and needs to be taken seriously.
Read MoreWe are Mired in It!
Trying to exist in such a world, with such systemic sin. It is something that we cannot avoid no matter how hard we may try. The point is that sin is bigger than simply the individual and effects us all at many different walks of life. And we, as Christians should call out sin as what it is.
Read MoreSin, Sin, Sin, Sin
Sin can be an individual thing, a breaking of relationships with God and others. That is not good and makes everyone sad.
Sin can also be a social thing, a sense of not living with the ordering of the reign of God (or as Yoder might say, with the grain of the universe).
Read MoreVacation and Sabbath
First, Sabbath is different then just getting a day off. It is finding that time to reconnect, recharge, and perhaps most importantly finding balance or harmony with one’s relationships. These relationships include those with the family, those with creation, those with the community, that with the self, and that with God. When it is put that way it seems kinda important, doesn’t it?
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