‘Good Stuff’ = articles I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.
Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.
Here’s this week’s roundup:
'The institutional church is collapsing and we're not sure what to do'
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God stuff
‘The Author of a Better Story’ by Chris Russo. ‘there’s something about this season of my life that feels like I’m watching God take a story I once understood primarily through the lens of death and slowly rewrite it through the lens of life.’
’AI Studies Jesus’ Self-Claims to Discover Who Jesus Thought He Was’ by Kyle Davison Bair. ‘Taken together, these statements are not a collection of separate titles or roles. They form a single, coherent self-disclosure: Jesus is claiming to be the eternal God of Israel who has become a human being in order to fulfill the messianic role.’
Church stuff
‘Why Your Church Should Use a Lectionary’ by Michael Niebauer. ‘Scripture, not the pastor, sets the preaching agenda. While this might seem restrictive for pastors, it can actually be quite freeing: it relieves them of the burden of trying to be mind-readers, or worse yet, amateur sociologists, trying to intuit the needs of the congregation and pick passages to meet those needs.’
‘Is the Church Running Out of Big Beefy Boys?’ by matthew pierce. ‘And what about sin? Beefy boys are more resistant to sin than skinny men, it is science. Whenever a group of bros is like “let’s go out tonight and do a cat burglary,” the beefy boy is like “nah, I don’t have that kind of agility, I will go home and get a stew going.”’
Other stuff
‘Chasing the Ghost of Pikes Peak’ by Sean Dietrich. ‘Unforgiveness is a tricky disease. You don’t even know you have it until it’s finally gone. You think you’re fine, even though you aren’t. You think all is well. You even swear to people that you’ve let all ill feelings go.’
‘Technology Is Over’ by James Taylor Foreman. ‘There is some saturation happening, we must notice. We’re bored by promises of better technology and now looking elsewhere. We’ve gotten pretty much all we can consume. We’re informationally obese and looking to go on a diet.’
What I wrote this week:
‘‘All are welcome’ is a lie’. ‘It’s not (usually) about walking into a church service ‘cold’. And even if it is - plenty of people somehow stumble into a church when they are in need - it doesn’t end there. It’s accompanied by formation.
By walking with someone (or a group of someones) who are actively praying, practicing, worshiping together, as we grow in our relationship with God. By getting to know this community and its quirks and gifts. By becoming part of the family.’’People want to know how to get in’. Actually written by Loren Richmond Jr. - for Substack Seminary. ‘the ubiquitous church phrase “all are welcome” can become so vague that it tells people almost nothing. Welcome to what? What does belonging here mean? How would I know whether I actually belong?
People want to know how they can get in.’
And finally…
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I love that quote from epf!