Category Archives: Faith & Witness

Stained glass window image of Jesus

A New Creation, Make It So!

There are unchurched people who fear becoming a new creation in Christ because they think if they adopt Christian behavior they won’t be able to have any more fun. Those of us living a Christ-filled life know better. But Christians have gotten a bad rap

Stained glass window image of Jesus

Life in the Brave New World of Jesus

When I was at the seminary, a team of students did interviews with people who had made “decisions for Christ” in a local evangelistic crusade in Kentucky. They also interviewed others who knew the recent converts. To their surprise they found that the most common

Stained glass window image of Jesus

Learning To Fly: A Meditation on Change

I would like to take you with me in spirit to a place in South Africa called the Karoo. This is an arid and somewhat inhospitable world – its hot, semi-desert conditions stretch for many miles in every direction. Tall, silent mountains keep watch over

Stained glass window image of Jesus

Just As We Are

Do we really need to become a new creation in Christ? Is there a need to change who we are? Some writers suggest that to become a new creation in Christ we need to change. Note there is always an emphasis that ‘we’ need to

Praying man holding bible

Black, Gay and Spiritual

To know Jesus with all my heart and to seek his blessed face with my soul; to understand his life and how he lives in me; to be pleasing before his sight; and for him to one day call me home and say, “well done,

Dove flying in Lisbon, Portugal

Flexing Our Spiritual Muscles

Our lives are filled with learning experiences. Just as a baby learns to walk by repeatedly attempting these new movements and actions, so we, passing through a variety of experiences move closer toward being perfected spiritually. Perhaps the reason “crisis” was chosen to describe this

Dove flying in Lisbon, Portugal

Grace: Amazing, Isn’t It?

What does grace say to you? Not me, not the person, but the religious concept. Wait, you say, I’m not a theologian. I don’t care about the ins and outs of a religious theory. Well, I didn’t either, until I started really studying this subject

Dove flying in Lisbon, Portugal

The Father

Suppose, I was a king and I went out and adopted 10 children. I chose them and brought them into my house, they are my children. I bestowed upon them every gift in my kingdom. I poured out my love on each of them equally.

Dove flying in Lisbon, Portugal

Blaine

I have watched the waves break against the side of the ship, sending up rainbows of colors. I have watched porpoises playing in the sea. I have seen young couples stroll hand and hand under the light of the full moon as the ship glides

Couple holding hands in front of a rainbow flag

Coming Out and Coming Home

I came out as a lesbian in September of 1992. The next month, I came out as a Christian at my local MCC. I never fit in. My whole life, I thought that there was something wrong with me. I always felt detached, as though