-
Join 848 other subscribers
Amazon Author Page
-
Recent Posts
Categories
- Advent 2016
- Along the Way
- And Your Daughters
- At The Gate
- Benedict's Rule
- Christ
- Connections
- Day One
- Deep and Wide
- Desert Wisdom
- Editorials
- Engage
- For the Bride
- Here and Now
- Hermeneutics
- Holy Love
- Holy Week 2012
- Holy Week 2013
- In-Sight
- Journey
- Let Us Pray
- LGBTQ+ Writing
- Listenings
- Love
- Lumen Fidei
- Ministry Musings
- New Awakening
- Nonviolence
- Practicing the Better
- Rebuild My Church
- Shepherd's Care
- Site Updates
- Spiritual Life
- The Holy Gospel
- The Prophetic Task
- The Teaching Life
- UMC
- Uncategorized
- Wesley Windows
- Year of Mercy
Archives
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- November 2017
- October 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
Meta
Category Archives: For the Bride
Holy Love: Passages #2
Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 Honestly, I was not prepared for the complexity regarding these two passages. Far from being cut-and-dried as a one-sentence, straightforward condemnation of male homosexual activity, the passages are in relation to a cultural and religious context … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride, Holy Love
Comments Off on Holy Love: Passages #2
For the Bride: Bibliography
A Basic Affirming Bibliography On Human Sexuality Below are books which have shaped my theology of human sexuality. The list began as an attempt to gather biblical references, but in the course of doing so, I realized that a full orbed … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Bibliography
For the Bride: You Are Loved!
If I were asked to name the #1 struggle that LGBTQ+ people have, I would say it is their struggle to believe God loves them. If I were asked to name why they have this struggle, I would say because … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: You Are Loved!
For the Bride: Holy Sexuality
I begin new posts for this occasional series with “Holy Sexuality” because it is a broad topic in our society, and it is a particular topic under consideration at The General Conference of The United Methodist Church that begins today … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Holy Sexuality
For the Bride: My Journey
Here is a synopsis of my journey since 2014 of to being an ally with the LGBTQ+ community… I met some of you last evening at First UMC Orlando for the first time, and you asked about my journey to … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: My Journey
For the Bride: Video & Outline
Here is the link to my presentation last evening at First UMC in Orlando, Florida on.the subject, “All Means All: The Bible’s Affirmation of LGBTQ+ Persons”… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CyHF3CCRvPs Here is the handout/outline given to those who were present… “All Means All: … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Video & Outline
For the Bride: Resuming Posts
Following last night’s event at First United Methodist Church in Orlando, I am resuming posts in this “For the Bride” category. Previous posts were essentially expansions on things I wrote about in my book, ‘For the Sake of the Bride’ … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Resuming Posts
For the Bride: Taking A Break
August is one of the months that I cease posting and take a break from writing. “For the Bride” will resume on September 11th.
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Taking A Break
For the Bride: Compassion Rising
Today, I end my comments on the practice of non-judgment. Like the earlier posts on the principle of love, I am sure there is much more that could be said about this important topic, but I will let what I … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Compassion Rising
For the Bride: From Letter to Spirit
The early Christians recognized they were stewards of a great Mystery–the Mystery that had within it power to give life or to deal death. Whether the Mystery did one or the other depended on how they used the Law. In … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
1 Comment
For the Bride: Judged by Scripture
Douglas Burton-Christie calls the early Christians’ refusal to be judgmental a “hermeneutical act” (The Word in the Desert, p. 280). He means that the early Christians took Matthew 7:1 with utter seriousness. To refrain from judgment was to trust the … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Judged by Scripture
For the Bride: Seeing Possibilities
Jesus lamented that too many people had eyes to see, but did not see (Mark 8:18). The early Christians believed that one manifestation of spiritual blindness was judgmentalism. When healed by grace, restored spiritual eyesight would see possibilities in other … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
1 Comment
For the Bride: Narrow Vision
In his book, The Word in the Desert, Douglas Burton-Christie notes that the early Christians realized how easily they could deceive themselves into thinking they could know the condition of another person’s heart, and thus accurately pass judgment on them. … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
1 Comment
For the Bride: Radical Trust
The church’s perrennial call to repentance is rooted in our belief in God’s willingness and ability to forgive sin. Judgmentalism was, however, eschewed by the early Christians because they believed it was a diminishment of that belief. One of the … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Radical Trust
For the Bride: The Hypocrisy of Judgment
The early Christians linked judgmentalism and hypocrisy. They did so because they observed that those who became judgmental became increasingly less self-aware. They could fancy themselves as being righteous while pointing out another’s unrighteousness. It is the attitude we have … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: The Hypocrisy of Judgment
For the Bride: Living in a Dungeon
Early Christians believed that being judgmental put them in the lowest level of spirituality, so they went to (what seems to us today) extraordinary means to avoid it. An old monk named Nau told his community what to do: “If … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
1 Comment
For the Bride: Don’t Feed the Animals
The title of today’s post is often found at zoos, public parks, and other places where animals are found. The sign could have been placed in the hermit caves and monastic communities of early Christianity. These Christians believed that judgmentalism … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
1 Comment
For the Bride: Non-Judgment
Continuing our exploration of early Christianity, we move from the principle of love to the practice of non-judgment, which is the application of love in situations and toward people who do not seem to deserve it. When we read the … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Non-Judgment
For the Bride: The Sum of All
When Paul wrote that love is “the more excellent way”–that it “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things”–and that it is greater than faith or hope, he was doing all he could to say … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: The Sum of All
For the Bride: Soft on Sin?
We have spent an extended period of time considering the way of love in early Christianity, revealing that it was the virtue which defined and directed the inner life and outer witness of the desert fathers and mothers. I will … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
1 Comment
For the Bride: Freedom to Love
Rarely do all three weekly writings here on Oboedire revolve around the same theme, but they do this week. The theme of freedom has woven its way naturally into each post, quite apart from any advance or deliberate plan on … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Freedom to Love
For the Bride: The Cost of Love
A look at the early desert mothers and fathers reveals that the kind of love we are describing came at great cost. Far from being quick and easy, it was prolonged and challenging. And far from being cheap grace, it … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: The Cost of Love
For the Bride: The Confirmation of Love
The desert Christians were earthy folk, perhaps in large measure because of the environment in which they worshipped and worked. While some of the Church’s best theology comes from the early-Christian era, it is almost always expressed through a tangible … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: The Confirmation of Love
For the Bride: The Command to Love
An emotion-driven concept of love draws back from thinking of love as a commandment. But the withdrawal is based on two false assumptions: that we love (or not) on the basis of how we feel, and/or that love is a … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: The Command to Love
For the Bride: Beyond Sentimentalism
The shadow of the Cross has cast itself into this week, reminding us that love is a struggle. We have so sentimentalized love that we view it almost exclusively as an emotion. So, if we feel like loving someone, we … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Beyond Sentimentalism
For the Bride: Good Friday Love
Today, we see the apex of love–the Cross. In what was for many of us one of the first verses we learned after becoming Christians (John 3:16) we saw that God “gave his only-begotten son.” This includes the entirety of … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Good Friday Love
For the Bride: Holy Experimentation
Years ago, I heard Richard Foster say that prayer is to the spiritual life what experimentation is to science. In early Christianity, the monastic communities understood this, and they practiced prayer in an “ask, seek, knock” spirit. We have come … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Holy Experimentation
For the Bride: Love With Skin On
The schools of love established by the early Christians made the curriculum of love concrete. While they could engage in deep studies about love and participate in inspiring conversations about love, eventually they had to love a real person. Love, … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
3 Comments
For the Bride: Simply Love
The early Christians made love the essence of holiness, and practicing it in community meant there were almost unlimited ways to express love to others: gestures, facial expressions, simple acts of charity–what Brother Lawrence would later call “little things for … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
1 Comment
For the Bride: The School of Love
The last time I was on retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemane in Kentucky, I noticed the community had published a new brochure about themselves, their ministries, their daily schedule, etc. It was entitled, “A School of Love.” When I … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: The School of Love
For the Bride: Amazing Love!
In early Christianity the synonymn for love was perfection. Far from being a psychologized word (which could become pathological perfectionism), it was deeply theological–the best synonym the early Christians could find to describe when our lives are most like God. … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
1 Comment
For the Bride: Turning the Page
When we turn the last page of the New Testament and move from the biblical era to the early Christian period, the next page in the book of history is not blank. The first page of the Didache reads thus… … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Turning the Page
For the Bride: Into the Desert
When we move into early Christianity (from the close of the New Testament to roughly 550 a.d.), we discover that the three pillars were embraced to give shape to the spirituality of the early Christians, who would soon evolve into … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Into the Desert
For the Bride: Reinterpretation Is Not Accommodation
The pivotal passages have opened the way for me, and others, to look at key biblical passages concerning human sexuality with fresh eyes, but when new interpretations emerge, the almost-immediate outcry is to accuse those holding them of accommodating the … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Reinterpretation Is Not Accommodation
For the Bride: Pivotal Passages–3
Today, I share those passages which have led me to advocate the process of holy conversation… –passages that refer to assemblies –Jesus’ conversations with his disciples –Acts 1:12–2:1 –Acts 2:42 ff –Acts 10:1–11:18; Acts 15 –Paul’s epistles as examples of … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Pivotal Passages–3
For the Bride: Pivotal Passages–2
Today, I share some passages which have led me to advocate the practice of non-judgment… Ps 62:3-4 Ps 75:7. (and the host of related OT passages) Mt 7:1 Mk 9:42 Acts 10:28 Romans 2:1-5 Romans 14:10 1 Cor 4:5 2 … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Pivotal Passages–2
For the Bride: Pivotal Passages–1
No matter where you stand on the agreement/disagreement spectrum relative to my book, it is essential for you to know that I have come to my position based on the revelation of Scripture. I have established my emphasis regarding love, … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Pivotal Passages–1
For the Bride: Three Pillars
As we carry this theme into the new year, it has been nearly nine months since I wrote ‘For the Sake of the Bride: Restoring the Church to Her Intended Beauty.’ As I watch the conversations among Christians remain contentious, … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
1 Comment
For the Bride: On Break
This post resumes next Friday, January 9th.
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: On Break
For the Bride: On Break
“For the Bride” is on Christmas Break. It returns next week, January 9th.
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: On Break
For the Bride: On Break
“For the Bride” is on a Christmas break. It resumes on January 9th.
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: On Break
For the Bride: Infrastructure
Buildings stand because of their infrastructure, what Jesus called “the good foundation.” As we conclude our brief look at the place of hermeneutics in the human sexuality debate, I will stay with Wesley’s sermon “The Catholic Spirit” one more time. … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Infrastructure
For the Bride: The Critical Element
I want to continue to use Wesley’s sermon, “Catholic Spirit,” to shed further light on our continuing exploration of honoring and being the Bride of Christ today. I repeat that the basis for all this is orthodoxy. Not everyone will … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: The Critical Element
For the Bride: The Key Distinction
Hermeneutics enables us to claim the key distinction necessary for fellowship–the distinction between doctrine and opinion–between what is primary and what is secondary. Until we are willing to do this, we have little hope for charitable discourse, or a fully … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: The Key Distinction
For the Bride: Special Report
Since last April, when I wrote ‘For the Sake of the Bride,’ I have read more on the subject of human sexuality than during any comparable period in my life. Maybe it is the scholar in me, but I have … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Special Report
For the Bride: The God Window
Continuing our exploration of hermeneutics, we come to realize that our concept of God largely determines how we view the Christian message. If we view God as essentially angry with us (even if it is righteous indignation), we will almost … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: The God Window
For the Bride: Inevitable Vantage Points
Last week, I introduced the theme of hermeneutics–an indispensable topic if we are to understand the basis of our contemporary debate regarding human sexuality.. What hermeneutics rightly tells us is that the issue is not about who is “biblical,” but … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Inevitable Vantage Points
For the Bride: Playing With Blocks
I grew up before Legos were around, but when I was a child, I had wooden blocks. They came in different colors, with letters, numbers, animals, and symbols on the various sides. It was easy to spend long amounts of … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Playing With Blocks
For the Bride: Too Difficult for Whom?
I have to admit there are days when the candle for preserving unity in the Church burns low in my soul. Some appear to have already concluded that schism is the only way forward. Others seem to yearn for continuing … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Too Difficult for Whom?
For the Bride: Special Report (2)
Like many of you, I am following as carefully as I can the situation currently existing between Dr. David Gushee and notable colleagues within and beyond the Southern Baptist Convention. I am doing this, in part, because it is good … Continue reading
Posted in For the Bride
Comments Off on For the Bride: Special Report (2)