Introduction

In this blog I intend to spend time thinking theologically about the various things that I encounter in my life. That may mean commenting on the news, or deconstructing the messages of reality TV shows, or just discussing something I've read. I believe that God is able to speak to us through all of these things and more, but we have to learn to hear what God says to us.

Since there may be one or two people reading this blog who don't know me, a few introductions might be in order...

I am the pastor of the First Christian Church in Sac City, Iowa, a congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). (Learn more about the Disciples at www.disciples.org.) Sac City is a small community, about 2,400 people. We worship together each Sunday at 10:15 a.m. (in the summer it's 9:15). Disciples share the Lord's Supper (Communion) together each Sunday, and welcome all to join us. We don't baptize babies, but wait until people are old enough to make the choice for themselves that they want to be Christians.

Politically, I'm pretty liberal; theologically I consider myself evangelical--but evangelical in the classical sense which places more emphasis on changing lives and hearts through actively loving and caring for others. (The Salvation Army is a good example of an evangelical organization in this classical sense; the Religious Right of today is not.) I love the Bible and consider it the Word of God because it is one way we are able to know more about what God is like and draw closer to God.

I believe that God loves us and desires more than anything else to be in a relationship with us--and to that end God's Son, Jesus Christ, came to earth to be born of an ordinary woman, grow up in an ordinary family, and live among human beings demonstrating through his words and his actions the incredible, unconditional love that God has for each of us. But as a result of this work many people who feared this great love, or wished to keep it for themselves and withhold it from those they considered "unworthy," succeeded in putting Jesus to death. I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, though, to break the back of the powers of evil and death that sometimes ensnare even good, religious folks.

The trouble, of course, is that there is still evil and death in the world. People (even Christians) still sometimes use religion as a weapon against others. People still try to exclude others because of the things that make us different from one another--things like race, nationality, economics, or sexual orientation--and sometimes carry that to an extreme with officially-sanctioned discrimination or worse. But God is still at work in this world, and one day the victory that was won on Easter Sunday will be complete.

One of the ways God continues to work in this world is through the body of Christ, the Church. The church is made up of human beings who continue to make mistakes, and the church--as so many have said throughout history--is full of hypocrites. Even so, God is still at work in and through the Church, which is made up of people who, for all their faults, are called by the name of Jesus Christ.

I believe that truly being a follower of Christ means confessing that Jesus is Lord above all else--above our country, above our family, above our traditions, above our bank accounts and our political parties. Sometimes this is easy, but most of the time it is not. Often we who claim Jesus as our Lord, who pledge allegiance first and foremost to him, will find ourselves in hot water with other people or forces who would prefer we give our allegiance to them. But if that happens, God is with us in the midst of it all.

I welcome any comments and questions anyone might have about any of my posts.