Posted in Love, The Church, Victor's Articles on January 7th, 2009 No Comments »
I was directed to this article by a friend, thought it’d be good to share. This is something I have seen a lot of in our churches and really want to push us to break the trend. It’s from a pastor’s blog for a church in Ireland (thus the lingo at times) :
Posted in Ethics, John's Articles, Love on January 5th, 2009 16 Comments »
When we try to understand just who we are, we inevitably turn to our families and communities. Closely tied to our perception of ourselves is the perception of everyone else, specifically those not in our community. This is what ‘the other’ is. It is the group of people that you define yourself over and against. Generically, for the Christian ‘the other’ is the non-Christian. You could map out the groups along all sort of barriers and lines. The “haves” and the “have-nots”, the Catholic and the Protestants, African-Americans and Caucasians, are all good examples. The problem comes not with the intrinsic differences – but rather the perception of the ‘other’.
Posted in Doctrine, Holy Spirit, JimS' Articles, Love on September 19th, 2008 4 Comments »
As we read the passage in Galatians 5 and come to these verses:
Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
The context is in admonishing those who are trying to use law to control the passions of the flesh in life’s relationships, but to no true profit. In verse 15 this remarkable opportunity of life is brought forth:
Posted in Ethics, Love, Media, Obedience to Christ, Peace, Sean's Articles on July 9th, 2008 5 Comments »
Last night, I watched this sermon by Shane Claiborne of the Simple Way, an intentional community in the “bad lands” of north Philadelphia. He shares his incredible story of how God has led him throughout his life to learn what it means to take Jesus’ words seriously and really follow him. He was born in east Tennessee and was raised as a Methodist. He went to a “get saved” meeting each year and got born again, again and again. Then he went to Eastern in Pennsylvania and found himself reading an article about homeless people who were being evicted from an abandoned Catholic church. He and 100 others got involved by moving into the church with the homeless and suffering with them while sharing the love of Messiah. I won’t give too much away, because it is a beautiful story. He also interned with Mother Theresa in Calcutta and has done some incredible things in Philadelphia since then.