this summer at our weekend gatherings the refuge has been focusing on the practice of love–loving God, others, ourselves. it’s been a fun mix of different conversations & one thing is really clear–they each are intimately connected and can’t be separated or parsed out from each other. this past saturday we did a fun interactive […]
Read Morethe great distraction
a few weeks ago i was in a conversation with a friend about the use of the Bible in our Christian faith. i sometimes get criticized for not using the Bible enough, in that i am not that excited about exegeting passages intellectually. i definitely believe in the value, challenge, and beauty in the Bible, […]
Read Morefriendship, freedom & a lot less fear
“there is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” st. thomas aquinas uh oh, i’m on my “men and women need to learn how to be friends” kick right now. I think it’s appropriate in light of the shared leadership conversations, too, because it gets to the center of so […]
Read Morefreedom.
“the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day […]
Read Moredreamers, lovers, and status-quo rockers
this post is part of the july synchroblog – a bunch of bloggers writing on the same topic. this month is centered on the wild goose festival, a justice-arts-spirituality festival held the last week of june in north carolina. some of us weren’t able to make it to the festival (i would have loved to […]
Read Morewhen crazy is actually sane & sane is actually crazy
one of my favorite gospel stories is the woman who busts into simon the pharisee’s house in luke 7 and falls at Jesus’ feet, wiping his feet with her tears. in that moment, he was hanging out with the put-together, religious elite talking about theology. they were supposedly the sane ones, and she was the […]
Read Moredaddy love
every sunday night we go over to my mom’s for dinner. it all started a few years ago when the refuge used to meet on sunday nights; when she’d come i’d give her $20 to take the kids to mcdonald’s on the way home for me. she hates fast food and after a few weeks […]
Read Moreascent vs. descent
last wednesday at our house of refuge we kicked off our summer journeying through down we go: living into the wild ways of Jesus. at first i wasn’t really excited about the reality that it won the vote (the group decided together what to do for the summer), but after the idea settled in i […]
Read Moremore than the leftovers
yesterday was the june synchroblog focused on faith, feasts & foreshadowing & the connections between the jewish celebration of shavout & the christian celebration of pentecost. there are some really good posts, check out the links below. i have had a nutty week and didn’t think i was going to participate and then yesterday, as […]
Read Morewhile the world is crying out for hope, we're talking about theology
this past weekend i was on the refuge camping trip at jackson lake. it is was our 6th annual & is a cornerstone tradition in our community. one of my favorite parts of the weekend is baptism. each aspect of it is just so beautiful—witnessed in community, a clear marker on an often very unclear […]
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