Preached on August 1, 2004 at MCC Columbia in Columbia, S.C. When Andy (Sidden, pastor of MCC Columbia) first proposed this “Summer Sizzle” series on the Bible and homosexuality I rolled my eyes. If I had a penny for every time I’ve had to explain
Metropolitan Community Church of Columbia, S.C. A new monk arrives at the monastery and is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand. He notices, however, that they are copying copies, not the original books. So, the new monk goes
I can tell you the exact moment that Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean lost my vote. It was January 11, 2004 when an audience member at an Iowa primary forum asked Dean to stop “mean mouthing” President George W. Bush. According to news reports, Dale
Sell your cleverness and purchase bewilderment; Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment intuition. — Rumi God is bipolar. Rev. Dr. J. Henry Jurgens, a practicing psychiatrist and doctor of divinity at Yale University Divinity School, has diagnosed God almighty as suffering from the disorder that afflicts
I first heard of Philip Yancey when his book What’s So Amazing About Grace? came out in 1997. Even though many people whom I respected raved about the book, I was not interested in reading the book. Why would I? It was written by a man
Reshaping power With a title like Why Bush Must Go: A Bishop’s Faith-Based Challenge you might expect The Right Reverend Bennett J. Sims’ book to be a political screed, filled with rants about how horribly our president has led this country through days filled with
“First victory, then peace.” These were the words written on coins of first century Rome according to scholar Dr. John Dominic Crossan. The slogan does not epitomize “the evil of the Roman empire” with its stranglehold over conquered nations, including Israel. Instead, Crossan, in an
Revive us again; Fill each heart with thy love; May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. — Revive Us Again (William P. MacKay and John J. Husband) Any attempt to transform a social system without addressing both its spirituality and its outer forms
101 Charlie Smith Drive. It’s a beautiful, sprawling ranch style home nestled among the back-roads of rural southeastern Georgia. Its 3,000 square feet of open space are inviting. Ghostly aromas of cookies, chicken dinners and midnight snacks still haunt the now still, vacant air of
Metropolitan Community Church of Columbia, S.C. Readings for Transfiguration Sunday (Last Sunday before Lent): 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2, Luke 9:28-43 When I was growing up in the Southern Baptist church, there were two words that I had never thought to put together – “church” and “calendar.”