A Litany for a Time of Election Forgive us for forgetting that the Lion of Judah is a lamb bearing the marks of slaughter.Give us gentle and humble hearts like yours. Forgive us for seeing other people’s sins while being blind to our own.Give us gentle and humble hearts like yours. Forgive us for defaming … Continue reading Prayer Note #60: A Litany for a Time of Election
Tag: Christian witness
Quote of Note #111: A Prophetic Church
photo by GAC "When the church is the blind, uncritical endorser or 'spiritual' chaplain of whatever a nation decides to do, it has largely renounced its vocation as the body of Christ. It is neither the salt of the earth not a light to the nations. And it has traded its commitment to the witness … Continue reading Quote of Note #111: A Prophetic Church
Pastor Note #104: Partisan Politics, the American Church, and the Kingdom of God
Cross Creek Lake, Avella, PA; photo by GAC During my years of pastoring in central New York state, I was part of a pastors' prayer group that met weekly to pray for each other and our community. All of us in the group were theologically conservative, what is often called “evangelical.” Sometime in 2011, during … Continue reading Pastor Note #104: Partisan Politics, the American Church, and the Kingdom of God
Quote of Note #110: A Christian’s Highest Loyalty
Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, NY; photo by GAC "There comes a time when, as Jesus said, 'He who is not with me is against me.' That time is now. The real hope that the world of tomorrow will be the kind of world we want our children to live in is not to be found among … Continue reading Quote of Note #110: A Christian’s Highest Loyalty
Quote of Note #109: Speaking Truth
Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, NY; photo by GAC "As Christian people, we all believe that our highest loyalty belongs to God and that there belongs to everyone the inalienable dignity of a child of God. In this we all believe. The time has now come for us to stand up and say so when we drink … Continue reading Quote of Note #109: Speaking Truth
Pastor Note #102: Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward Coercive “Christianism”: an Essay Part 3 of 3
Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: an Essay Part 3 of 3 In Part 1 of this essay, I laid out some examples of Evangelical fears, particularly in the form of their desire for a strongman-protector. I have also presented statistical evidence of significant shifts in the demographics of faith in America. In … Continue reading Pastor Note #102: Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward Coercive “Christianism”: an Essay Part 3 of 3
Pastor Note #101: Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: An Essay Part 2 of 3
Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: An Essay Part 2 of 3 The Passing of the Christian Worldview in American Society The statistics I laid out in the first part of this essay have gotten a lot of attention over the years since they were first published, and so I think we can … Continue reading Pastor Note #101: Evangelical Fears and the Turn Toward “Coercive Christianism”: An Essay Part 2 of 3
Pastor Note #99: Following Jesus in a Time of Pandemic, Poisonous Politics, and Social Unrest
In a recent e-mail to a friend, I described some of the challenges of church ministry in this time of pandemic, political divisiveness, and social unrest. I told him, “During the past six months, pastoring a church feels like jumping out of an airplane and trying to sew your parachute as you fall.” That experience … Continue reading Pastor Note #99: Following Jesus in a Time of Pandemic, Poisonous Politics, and Social Unrest
Pastor Note #97: A Christian Rationale for Social Distancing in a Time of Pandemic
Medical experts widely agree that the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 is spread by minute droplets of saliva and mucus that come out of the mouth and nose of someone who is infected by the virus. Those droplets contain the virus. The viruses in those droplets find their way into the eyes, nose, or mouth of … Continue reading Pastor Note #97: A Christian Rationale for Social Distancing in a Time of Pandemic
Pastor Note #93: Religious Liberty, Privileged Christianity, and the Art of the Deal
Religious liberty, if it is pure and principled, is a beautiful and precious thing. It can also become a desperately dangerous concept if allowed to become conditional, qualified, or contingent in any way. And that’s where this gets very tricky right away. Everybody who wants to live in a humane and civilized society agrees that … Continue reading Pastor Note #93: Religious Liberty, Privileged Christianity, and the Art of the Deal
