Archive for the 'Theology Notes' Category

My Unique Matter-ing

Tuesday, December 8th, 2015

I was created to be a unique home for God, a home in which He expresses Himself in a unique way. I matter because I am a unique creation, but the completion of my significance is found only in that I should be a dwelling place for God. This means that my significance is a […]

Where Our Inability Meets the Ability of God

Friday, December 19th, 2014

True repentance happens at the cross where our inability meets the ability of God. True repentance happens at the cross for repentance is not essentially deciding to do better; it is not committing yourself to live by a righteous standard that you have previously denied or neglected. Repentance is most essentially turning to God to […]

You Have to Be a Sinner

Monday, November 24th, 2014

If you want to be saved, you have to be a sinner. I realize that what I just said can be taken wrongly, but I imagine that a number people don’t get this rightly. Jesus really did come to save the sick and the sinners.

An Aching Desire for Exacting Control

Wednesday, September 24th, 2014

I get that doctrine is important to the life of the Church. Doctrine is part of the Church’s call to bear witness to the work of God in Christ, and it can be both an act of worship, as well as a catalyst in bringing the Church to it’s knees in worship. And yet, for […]

To Raise the Body Is To Heal The Soul

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014

Below is a letter I sent to a friend who had a question about the relationship of body, soul, and spirit with respect to human nature. I offer this letter as a post, for a few reasons: it’s been too long since I have posted anything, it provides some clarity regarding a subtle aspect of […]

The Hands That Shaped You

Tuesday, April 29th, 2014

Perhaps in the end the final question is: “By the work of whose hands do you live?” Are you going to live by the work of your hands, and be the sum of all you’ve done? Or, are you going to be the work of God’s hands, hands that were pierced to embrace you, remake […]

The Mere Melody

Thursday, April 24th, 2014

In thinking about why I am a bit uncomfortable with fundamentalist Christians, even though they share many of my theological convictions, an analogy occurred to me wherein the Christian faith is much like a symphonic piece, and the Fundamentalists, as well as a whole host of Evangelicals, are singing the basic melody, but are missing […]

Is Pope Francis a Universalist

Saturday, October 5th, 2013

The following is an email that I wrote to a friend and dear sister in Christ, who expressed some concerns about recent words of Pope Francis wherein he was accused of being a universalist. I thought I would publish it here to share with my family, friends, and fellow pilgrims. ******* Dear Ms. C, I […]

Breaking God’s Heart

Saturday, March 17th, 2012

Sin basically consists not in breaking a set of rules but in breaking the heart of God – Anna Mow ******* I got this quote from Donald Bloesch’s Theological Notebook. What I like about it is that it provides a profoundly Gospel understanding of sin, which is to say that it defines sin with respect […]

God’s Vulnerability

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

It is the fifth day of Christmas and I’ve been reading Brennan Manning’s The Ragamuffin Gospel, which inspired me to write the following riff about the vulnerability of God, a vulnerability manifested in the Cross. ******* There is a deep connection between the brutal marks engraved on the vulnerable and naked body of the Son […]