Jesus is still wanted in Minneapolis. I took this picture at last year’s Carnivale de Resistance, unknowingly among my former Circle of Hope pastor, Joshua, and likely among folks of our then future faith community, Church of All Nations. If my math is right there are over 30 (nearly 40, if memory serves) posts on … More Why I Keep Talking About…Alternativity, the Bruderhof, and Church of All Nations
At the end of Mill City Church‘s worship gathering yesterday, we sang one of my all-time favorite hymns, Be Thou My Vision. We sang something close to the version I’ve posted above. Give it a listen as you read. Here are the lyrics, which are important as they will inform the rest of this post: … More For Memorial Day, “We Need Alternativity”
Circle of Hope has been talking about living “on the apostolic edge” for a while. A blog post from 2017 talks about it this way: In many ways, we are on the “apostolic edge” these days. I mean we are moving with Jesus into new territory, something like Paul, the Apostle (the “sent one”) telling … More Being “Circle of Hope People” on the Apostolic Edge
It’s hard to believe we’re almost a year into pandemic living, which for my family means mask wearing, social distancing, and quarantining as we are privileged enough to be able to work and learn from home. The reality for my family is that we’ve rarely left the house for the past 11 months or so. … More Home and Homesickness
I know people do this, compile a list at the end of the year of their top 10 posts from that year. Though I’ve been blogging for more than 15 years now, I don’t think I’ve ever compiled such a list, for at least a couple of related reasons. First, I still struggle with a … More 2020’s Top 10
Recently I’ve written about the call we’ve been experiencing in 2017 to get “small.” Over the past few days I’ve been experiencing the implications of that call in profoundly new ways, as I’ve been forced to consider just how “small,” exactly, we’re supposed to get. Remember, this is about getting “small” enough, first of all, to … More How Small, Exactly?
The End of the World As We Know It? “Maybe the end of the world comes one person at a time.” That was the provocative suggestion by one of my former pastors, Russell Rathbun from House of Mercy. If memory serves, this was near the end of his still memorable sermon series many years ago … More Get On With It
The “Right” Way to Follow Jesus I will confess that I think most of us get following Jesus wrong. Obviously, to have such a thought presupposes that I have some idea of what it would look like to get following Jesus “right.” I intentionally said “us” in my first sentence, because like Paul, I am … More If You Want to Have Confidence on the Day of Judgment, Maybe Skip the Sinner’s Prayer?
Do me a favor and give a watch to the short video of Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove above. As anyone who’s been reading this blog of late knows, I’ve been profoundly influenced by his book God’s Economy: Redefining the Health and Wealth Gospel, and my family and I have been struggling with how to live in light … More Capitalism Has Me Feeling Sad and Depressed Because of My Illicit Taking and Greedy Cheating
First, Inspiration from Others Regarding Proximity Proximity has taught me some basic and humbling truths, including this vital lesson: Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is … More Why Proximity?
