Tag Archives: Grace

Jesus Feminist, Repentance, and the Need for Grace

Posted on 08/19/2013 | 9 comments

This post is hard. It’s hard because I have literally just had my soul wrecked by my own sinfulness and arrogance. It’s because of those two things that I have to write this, because I know I’m not alone and there are many people who need to hear this story. Not for the sake of reading about the Spirit convicting me, but for the sake of doing a much better job of pursuing unity in the Church and making much of Christ.
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Millennials, Church, & a Whole Lot of Grace – part 2

Posted on 08/12/2013 | 2 comments

This is the second of two posts on this topic. The first post is more a message toward those involved in a local church, this one is more a message toward those who aren’t.

I’ll be honest, this is one of the hardest posts I’ve written. It’s easy to be authentic, but it’s hard because I find this difficult to put into practice. I thought about not writing it, but I felt compelled to not cower away from speaking a truth that I know I have a hard time living out. We all preach a better gospel than we live, which makes me grateful for grace all the more.
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Millennials, Church, & a Whole Lot of Grace – part 1

Posted on 08/08/2013 | 3 comments

This is the first of two posts on this topic. This is more a message toward those involved in a local church, the next post will be more a message toward those who aren’t.

Anyone who’s paid attention to even the remote corners of the Internet knows that Rachel Held Evans wrote a piece on Why Millennials Are Leaving The Church. I’ve written some of what I think about the article itself, mainly where I agree with her and tried to offer solutions, for whatever they are worth. Rachel is on the progressive and, dare I say, liberal side of Theology, but I’m grateful for that article. She also wrote a clarification article on Why Millennials Need the Church. I am grateful for this article as well, though this post primarily addresses issues raised by the first article and surrounding conversation.

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life:unmasked – Confessions of a Recovering Legalist

Posted on 07/24/2013 | 2 comments

Life: UnmaskedA couple years ago, I started being more authentic on the blog, and joined Joy, a writer I’ve come to know and respect, in sharing about life: unmasked, in which I share some of my struggles, questions, and failures. I may link up with her or I’ll just do it on my own. Either way, I feel it’s important to live and write unmasked.
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Grace and the Debtor’s Ethic

Posted on 07/19/2013 | Leave a comment

A while back, a good friend of mine sent me a text out of nowhere saying that he had a gift for me. Puzzled, any understanding I had of grace and Theology went out the window, and my immediate response was “What did I do to deserve a gift?” Of course, he said, “Nothing.” Then the error of my ways set in and I realized that you can’t earn a gift. That’s why it’s a gift! My next thought, equally wrong, was “Man, I need to buy him lunch or something.” Now, there isn’t anything wrong with wanting to respond to a kind gesture with gratitude and being generous. But, there is something wrong with feeling the need to repay someone for a gift. Then it isn’t a gift. This kind of debtor’s ethic turns a gift into a financial transaction. It turns grace into legalism.
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