November 13, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Luke 21:5-19
I'd left the practice of testimony in my childhood church. Then I learned why Luke suggests it when your world is falling apart.
November 6, All Saints: Luke 6:20-31
A retired colonel taught me about the courage it takes to love our enemies.
The Bible’s Yes to Same-Sex Marriage, by Mark Achtemeier
Mark Achtemeier and I once faced off at General Assembly over gay ordination. Sixteen years later, he preached at my ordination.
Coming in weakness
For the past 20 years I have toiled in the vineyards of two state legislatures: in California for 12 years and now in Wisconsin for the past eight, along with occasional forays to the U.S. Congress. In these arenas I have represented the interests of state councils of churches, which are really the interests of those who don't have the time, money or wherewithal to advocate for themselves: children, impoverished families, working-class parents with low-paying jobs.
Sunday, February 6, 2011: 1 Corinthians 2:1-16
It was not Paul's worldly status and gifts that resulted in Corinthian faithfulness, but his weakness.
Walking humbly
Just as loving mercy is a means to doing justice, so is walking humbly with God. Yet in the sexuality debates raging in the mainline church, humility is seldom easy to find. Both sides cling to the fiction that they harbor gospel truth.