In the Coracle

Prayer Is…

September 27th, 2008, No Comments

More tidbits from Anthony Bloom, a Russian Orthodox doctor/priest/monk in Great Britain and Ireland. This comes from page 31-32 of “Beginning to Pray” (Anthony Bloom).

What we must start with, if we wish to pray, is the certainty that we are sinners in need of salvation, that we are cut off from God and that we [...]

Prevenient Grace, and What’s My Job?

September 3rd, 2008, 2 Comments

“Prevenience is the conviction that God has been working diligently, redemptively, and strategically before I appeared on the scene, before I was aware there was something for me to do here… Like one who walks in late to a meeting, I am entering a complex situation in which God has already said decisive words and [...]

I cringe, but perhaps you’ll appreciate it

January 22nd, 2008, 1 Comment

I mentioned that I was asked to speak at the Everett Vineyard two Sundays ago.  It looks like the crew there posted a recording of my ramblings on their podcast page.  Wayne’s a good teacher and it’s worth you subscribing to their podcast series, or if you want, you can just click through here to [...]

Theory and Practice

May 6th, 2007, No Comments

“Practice without theory is blind, but theory without practice is dumb.”
– N. T. Wright, New Testament and the People of God, p. 118

 
Good ol’ Tom Wright. In a densely packed book full of tricky phrasing, big words and deep concepts, Tom whips this out and hits me right between the eyes.
 
I’m finishing up [...]

Two Great Easter Sermons about Itching Ears

April 19th, 2006, 1 Comment

Easter weekend brings us two timely sermons on similar topics from wonderful communicators:
From Anglican Bishiop N. T. Wright:
And the reason that I labour this alternative worldview, and highlight the ways in which it represents not just a variation on the genuine path of Jesus and his first followers but a full-scale rejection and overturning of [...]

Live Into This

March 30th, 2006, 1 Comment

This quote comes from Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading, which I’m currently GREATLY enjoying. When it comes out in paperback I’ll certainly order copies for our book table, and quite possibly take a book study group through it.
Spiritual theology, using Scripture as text, does not present [...]

Overheard

March 16th, 2006, 2 Comments

I’m sitting at The Potter’s House, a coffeehouse that is part of the Church of the Savior network. I’ll write more later, but I over heard this wonderful quote that I have to write down before I forget it:
“I had this boyfriend, and he said he wanted a shirt which said, ‘Grace for me. [...]

Sermon//Discussion – How does Jesus train his disciples?

February 2nd, 2006, No Comments

As I wrote a while back, we’re doing a parallel processing exercise at the moment, looking at Jesus from a fresh perspective and discussing our way through all 4 gospels at once.
This past Sunday we discussed the question, “how does Jesus train his disciples?”. I recorded the discussion on my iRiver, did some very [...]

My Theological Bent (today)

January 29th, 2006, 4 Comments

According the below quizfarm quiz on my theology, today I am best described as (clickthrough…):
(Update: I thought I’d taken this before, and it turns out that I had… I guess I’m de-emerging lately :-))

ReImagining Jesus

January 15th, 2006, 2 Comments

As we’re restarting, I’m in zealous pursuit of a True image of Jesus for myself and for our church. I want us to shed our preconceived notions, our culturally-infected understandings, our self-imposed limitations on the creator of the universe. I want us to deconstruct Jesus, and reconstruct Jesus based upon the images [...]