We Don’t Get to Control God

I was in a class this last week where we were discussing a case study about suicide. In our case study, a teenager and member of a local protestant church had taken his own life. The local high school was adrift with all kinds of religious notions about what would happen to this boy and members of the boy’s youth group approached their pastor with questions. Primarily they were concerned about the things that they heard from other kids at school about how he was going to hell for taking his own life.

Justice Denied is Fate Untied

We are tempted as preachers to highlight how the theology of our church is superior to the theology of another. Too often we preach sermons where we point the finger at misinterpretation "out there." On occasion though the lectionary gives us a passage that just doesn't fit neatly into our own theology. It is good and healthy to use these passages as opportunities to explore the limits of our own theological stances. By getting outside of our own "knowledge" and exploring another view point, we might just find ourselves closer to the truth. And if we are still standing once the confrontation has taken place, well then, we are stronger for it.

Hungry For Change

I read a blog post this morning about the process for preparation for ministry. Apparently the author came across a candidate for ministry who compared her journey to the Hunger Games. Although dramatic, I would encourage more CPMs to pay attention to these critiques.Why not explore how this candidate is feeling and why? There is a lot more to the Hunger Games analogy than just participants fighting it out to the death. There is an entire industrial complex built around reminding people of their past wrongs, supporting the victors of war, punishing the losers and telling them that it is for their own good, and costs being borne by one party alone.