Episode 12: On Earth as It Is in Heaven Introduction Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus as central to our faith. And that’s true. But our understanding of it is warped—like the distorted image in a carnival mirror, where parts of reality are magnified way out of proportion, while other parts are diminished into almost…

Episode 11: What Does God Look Like? Introduction My friend, Gary Christy, said something in a sermon recently that jumped out and grabbed me.  One moment I was sitting quietly in a Sunday morning service, and the next my mind was racing down a path through history and scripture, furiously connecting dots that I hadn’t…

Episode 10: Hic Sunt Dracones Introduction One of the byproducts of a law-based understanding of God’s will, is a necessary fixation on knowing what is core. Which of the laws are essential to our salvation—to pleasing God—and which will He give us grace on? The answer to this question is the key to being right…

Episode 9: The Yeast of These Introduction When you read the gospel of Matthew with open eyes, one of the surprises is seeing who Jesus invites into the kingdom of heaven, and who is left out. Those closest to Jesus are continually astonished — often scandalized —  by his choices. And we should be, too….

Episode 8: By the Authority Vested Introduction On playgrounds across the country, there are certain institutions, certain standards of practice, that are universally followed. At least they were in the 70s, when I was a daily observer and participant in those playground institutions. One of those was the authorized method for dividing into two teams….

Episode 7: We’ve Seen Worse Introduction Do you know the story of Micaiah? This is a tale that would be at home in works of Tolkien, but it’s actually at the very end of the first book of Kings in the Hebrew Scriptures.  In this story, the king of Israel wants to go to war…

Episode 6: Inside Outside Upside Down Introduction One of the shared but unspoken views of good church people is that the New Testament is version 2.0 of God’s Law. That God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit got together and worked all the bugs out of the Old Testament, and now we have the New Testament….

Episode 5: John Wick or Jesus? Introduction In the beginning, at the very start of the Bible, we have the book of Genesis. It tells us the story of creation, twice. It tells us about Adam and Eve, about Cain and Abel, Noah and the Ark, the Tower of Babel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Esau,…

Episode 4: First, Do No Harm Introduction Simeon: Matthew, you say Jesus didn’t come to do away with the law, and then you talk about him like he’s a new Moses, delivering a new Deuteronomy. Replacing the Law of Moses with a new one seems to be the very definition of doing away with the…

Episode 3: A More Perfect Union Introduction What is it that makes a nation great? At the heart of it, greatness is bound up with thriving. A great nation is one where the common trait shared by its citizens is one of well-being. In a great nation, there is peace. Peace between neighbors, between communities,…