Why is preaching so hard?

I’m preaching this morning. Granted, I don’t preach all the time. I speak publicly quite often, but preaching is different. I can give an hour-long lecture on a research topic as a matter of course. Putting together a twenty-minute sermon, however, is something I have always found very difficult. After some reflection, I’ve decided the reason…

Why Churchgoers Must (Really) Change

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2…

A Mainliner Hangs Around with Charismatics

I recently attended Global Awakening’s Voice of the Prophets conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was a gathering of about 1,300 people who believe in and want to learn more about modern day prophecy. Prophecy certainly wasn’t the only gift of the Spirit on display, though prophetic words were abundant. While I have worshipped with many different…

Praying for my church

I spent a few days with a group of Christians who were not United Methodists recently, and I came to an important realization: the UMC has exhausted me. I love my tradition, but it has exhausted me. Issues that I most care about–ministry with people with disabilities, theological readings of the Bible, catechesis, theological anthropology, and…

The Disabled God and other reflections

  The corporeal is for people with disabilities the most real. Unwilling and unable to take our bodies for granted, we attend to the kinesis of knowledge. That is, we become keenly aware that our physical selves determine our perceptions of the social and physical world. These perceptions, like our bodies, are often nonconforming and disclose new categories and models of thinking…

How to argue badly

I have to admit something: I have stopped reading comments on sites where my work is re-blogged. On this blog [and its predecessor], folks are generally respectful and engage in helpful dialogue. I really appreciate that. We’ve had some real disagreement without getting personal. Out there in the wild west of the blogosphere, though, it…