So forgiveness pre-requires understanding the mistakes of the past? here hear re this opposing this me-first, America-first, white-first, male-first approach>…
Weekly lessons in theology and public life • Since 2011
Tag: featured
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Lesson 17: Faith, Hope, and Love In Decision Making
Read MORE: Lesson 17: Faith, Hope, and Love In Decision MakingIt’s fine to speak of Christianity being unconditional love all the way down. It’s exhilarating to read St. Isaac of Syria write of even Hell being filled with God’s love. However, it is frustrating when various Christian groups totally disagree…
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Lesson 16: Incarnation
Read MORE: Lesson 16: IncarnationI always thought of myself as a member of the “theology of the cross” school. Paul and Kerry, through brief exchanges on this site, have helped me see the limitations of this tradition, how it has led too many people…
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Lesson 15: Concerns About Christian Love
Read MORE: Lesson 15: Concerns About Christian LoveI had originally decided to use Dr. King’s sermon in order to take a three week vacation break and was thoroughly unprepared when so many people sent me probing responses. They seemed to indicate a desire for conversation about how…
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Lesson 14: Christian Love Involves Suffering
Read MORE: Lesson 14: Christian Love Involves SufferingI have been receiving so many thoughtful responses to Dr. King’s sermon that I decided to address them in the lesson next week. However, I thought it would be helpful to present his conclusion before doing that. Everyone of the…
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Lesson 13: How We Love Our Enemies
Read MORE: Lesson 13: How We Love Our EnemiesI’d like to continue citing Martin Luther King’s sermon, “Love Your Enemies,” because it describes forgiveness as an inherent characteristic of the Christian love narrative. Whenever I hear the most powerful man in the world claim to love everybody and…
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Lesson 12: Why We Love Our Enemies
Read MORE: Lesson 12: Why We Love Our EnemiesThroughout my ministry, I have repeatedly reread two works in addition to the scriptures: Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov and Martin Luther King’s “Loving Your Enemies.“ Both express the love narrative I think the Church desperately needs to use in understanding and identifying…
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Lesson 11: Love As A Change Agent
Read MORE: Lesson 11: Love As A Change AgentA terribly significant reason for modern Christians using the love narrative to identify and understand themselves is usually ignored. When people rather blandly proclaim “God loves you, love one another,” they are usually thinking of love as not insisting on…
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Lesson 10: The Love Narrative and Conventional Wisdom
Read MORE: Lesson 10: The Love Narrative and Conventional WisdomMany of the best Christians I know have been accused of not knowing how the world operates. In truth, every one of them knows all too well how things work. They just think Jesus shows a better way. Conventional wisdom…
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Lesson 9: New Love Narrative
Read MORE: Lesson 9: New Love NarrativeBefore turning to the specific contents of a modern Christian narrative, it might be worthwhile once again to point out that this in no way distorts the Gospel message. To give thought to words and ideas that make sense to…
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The Refugees
Read MORE: The RefugeesI found drama to be an effective way to proclaim the modern Christian narrative. The following is a dialogue sermon I prepared for Christmas Eve during a period when the federal government was speaking against accepting refugees from wars we…
Recent Comments
An extremely timely topic. Thanks, Fritz!
yes we need to forgive our leaders yet make sure they do the right thing – which they aren’t.