Monthly Archives: September 2010

The church and the problem of “simplistic call and response on complex issues”

Some of the thinking I’m doing around the blog series I am currently writing, Why I Stopped Going to Church, has to do with the larger question of what the church is, particularly in its local expression, and out of … Continue reading

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Why I Stopped Going to Church, part 2.5

Read part one here and part two here. This essay cross-posted from Jesus Needs New PR I am still working on part three of this series, so in the meantime, I thought I’d post a passage from Frederick Buechner’s sermon … Continue reading

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Scott Cairns on Salvation and Jesus as Personal Savior

I’ve loved the work of poet Scott Cairns ever since I first heard him at Calvin College’s 2008 Festival of Faith and Writing. Scott is now blogging for – of all places – Huffington Post, and in his piece earlier … Continue reading

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Why I Stopped Going to Church, part two

Read Part One here This essay cross-posted from Jesus Needs New PR Earlier this year, on the first Sunday in Lent, I walked into church hopeful that I would hear something of whatever it is we are all looking for, … Continue reading

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Why I Stopped Going to Church, part one

This essay cross-posted from Jesus Needs New PR In When You Are Engulfed in Flames, a collection of essays published in 2008 by humorist David Sedaris, he explains his decision to stop smoking by telling a story about a friend … Continue reading

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Faith: an escape from life?

It’s always satisfying when you find different things you’ve read and listened to coming together to form a cohesive argument, helping you to look at a subject from different angles that you wouldn’t have thought of without those outside sources … Continue reading

Posted in Christianity, Literature | 2 Comments

Listening into the silences…

One of the great things about the house I’m renting now is the big backyard, with a little pond that has fountains in it just outside the back door, and a deck bordered on two sides by flowerbeds. The beds … Continue reading

Posted in Literature | 5 Comments