The UmBlog

It has really not been until this election that I understood Jesus' use of parables and his justification for them. The parables weed out those with confirmation bias. Let me explain. Jesus, and the prophets he quotes, likes to say about their critics they have eyes to see but cannot see and ears to hear but cannot hear. This clicked with me when I read the same idea expressed by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter in a science fiction novel, "The Long Cosmos." They write this in the context of a extraterrestrial message "Come Join Us." Some believed it must be what it most obviously looked like, some kind of SETI message from the sky...Others believed it couldn't be that precisely because that was the most obvious explanation." (p. 8) In the same way, a significant minority of the American voting public refused to apply Occam's razor of reasoning, the simplest explanation is the best one, and chose conspiratorial explanations over and over again....

As a straight white man in the modern United States, I live a privileged life. I do not worry about sexual harassment. I do not worry about being killed for a traffic violation. I do not fear being killed for my sexual orientation. I live in a society that makes good assumptions about me because I am a white man. Yet, I want to empathize with my brothers and sisters of color. I want to empathize with my sisters. I want to empathize my LGBTQ neighbors. I listen to their stories. I read their tweets. I read their blogs. The voices of the minorities are the voices in many of the Psalms, most written while the Jewish people were in exile. The Psalms are the blues hymnbook of the Bible. But I have been blind, as a majority male to the power of these songs of lament. I do not feel the weight of oppression. But because of Donald Trump, I begin to really know the soul of the Psalmists as I read through the lectionary . The Advent readings are chosen for the anticipation of a deliverer. Until...

I live in a country that accepts a greater than 50% collateral damage from drone strikes. In other words, most drone bombings kill humans, young, old, women, and children, who are guilty of proximity. Less than half of the drone bombings "successfully" kill their intended targets. This painting is by Alexey Pismenny of the slaughter of the holy innocents , a liturgical feast day, yesterday, in the church calendar. The day before yesterday, the murderer of an innocent black boy playing with a toy gun, was not indicted for his crime, just like Herod. We live in a militarized culture that tolerates, no, expects collateral damage, the slaughter of innocents, in order to enforce Pax Americana. "Mistakes were made." If it had happened to an innocent white child, most Americans would expect a different outcome. Our highest court gives our peace officers wide berth to make mistakes in the pursuit of self-defense. Just like our military has an extremely high tolerance...

This morning, as I walked the dog, I was thinking about Luke's advent story. An angel appears to shepherds. That right there is a big deal. The angel is God's messenger from heaven and these guys are the dirty low lives of society who are working the only job available to them, cast out by society. The angel terrifies them so the first thing the angel says is "Fear not." Then the angel tells them the joyful news, a new Davidic king has been born. Ironically, they will find this king in a feeding trough. The new king appears in their area of derision, animal husbandry. Before they go visit the new king a heavenly choir of angels appears singing about peace and God's favor. Some of our Western cultural milieu makes us ignorant of what words mean. For example, a heavenly host is an army. The greek word means "army." Here is the awesome irony we tend to miss because we think heavenly host means heavenly boys choir. God's "army" does not com...

Why did God incarnate himself as the baby Jesus? Jesus says in John's gospel, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10 Jesus continues in this passage, "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd." v. 16 In Luke's gospel, after a tax collector's life changing encounter with Jesus, he says, referring to himself, "For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10 The abundant life only begins in this one. It continues in the next. Jesus will accomplish his task, either in this life or the next one. What then are we to do who have already begun this abundant life? Tell the good news, not "turn or burn." 1 Peter 2:1-10  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may procla...

I listened for the second time in my life to a church service of lessons and carols with a trained choir and a serious pipe organ. There are seven lessons, all readings from the Bible to prepare us for the Advent. One of the readings was a mere 4 verses from Jeremiah 31:31-34. But when I read it today, in its totality, I could not believe they only picked these few verses. It's in Jeremiah 31 where Matthew references a fulfillment of Herod's slaughter of the innocents. But the chapter is mostly about God's unilateral restoration of his people despite their failings. 31  The days are surely coming, says the  Lord , when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  32  It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, [ g ]  says the  Lord .  33  But this is the covenant that I ...

I like John the Baptist. He was an outlier and his job was to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. He did it zealously and successfully. He dressed like a bum and was a freegan, eating bugs and wild honey. He was an ascetic, never drinking wine, nor ever cutting his hair. His parents were old when he was born and were among the religious elite. John did not follow in their footsteps. He called the religious elite a brood of vipers and died young, at the hands of the state, for speaking to power without fear. Later on, when the early church wrote about Jesus, John's cousin, they recognized John's importance to Jesus' story. When they met each other fetus to fetus, John leapt for joy in his mother's womb. When he was warning people to repent for the kingdom of God is near, baptizing people in the Jordan River as a symbol of their changed lives, they saw in his actions fulfillment of the words of the Hebrew prophets Malachi and Isaiah. He brought mountains ...

Today's Advent reading in the Daily Office includes Psalm 37. I think it's a great Psalm for all american Christians today who are worried about their siblings who think politically different from themselves. So for those who fear I put this here. I'm sure this Psalm also brought comfort to those who were waiting for their Messiah while under Roman occupation. I'm sure it brought comfort to those believers who hid in the Roman catacombs. I'm sure it brought comfort to those who suffered in concentration camps or the communist gulags. I'm sure it brought comfort to African-American slaves. It is a Psalm of hope beyond what we can see with our own eyes. 1  Don’t worry about the wicked      or envy those who do wrong. 2  For like grass, they soon fade away.      Like spring flowers, they soon wither. 3  Trust in the  Lord  and do good.      Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. 4...

Here is the provocative assertion by Caleb Miller. So how do we begin this reconstructive process then? I’ve discussed  the notion that there are only three axiomatic statements made about God in the bible.         • God is love         • God is light         • God is father There is so much in these thee statements to cogitate on for the rest of my life yet more immediately in this Advent season. When I am angry or hateful - God is love. When I fear the darkness - God is light. When I feel vulnerable and unprotected and in need - God is father. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world full of loud selfish people and quiet generous people. I want to be someone who is love, light, and parental. I want to advocate for those who lack love, light, and affection. In this Advent season I want to celebrate love, light, and universal siblinghood.

In 2014 I embraced podcasts. Some of them give me hope theologically, usually the anabaptistic chaps, orthodox protestants who are not evangelicals. The peace Christians. Brian Zahnd at Word of Life Church Greg Boyd at Woodland Hills Church Bruxy Cavey at The Meeting House The liturgical Christians.  Nadia Bolz Weber at House for All Sinners and Saints . The Daily Office Some preachers are no longer at their churches and I miss their podcasts. Jonathan Martin at Renovatus Church Ken Wilson at the Ann Arbor Vineyard , I still listen to his associate pastor though, Donnell Wyche. Some Christians do not speak for a church but podcast about grace, life, and hardships. They talk with each other, scrap with each other, and talk gracefully to those they disagree with and then learn there is very little to disagree about. They also use language not normal in church, but plenty normal outside of church. Drunk Ex-Pastors Bad Christian (Great Savior) I also like stori...