Tag: sin
Why the World Still Needs the Church
The critics are right; the church is broken. Nowhere is this reality more apparent than in disputes about what the Bride of Christ actually is. An institution or a relationship? A means for spirituality or...
When Wicked Men Die, How Should Christians Respond?
I remember when I heard that Osama bin Laden had been killed. I was in my dorm room with friends. We heard cheering in the halls. We saw American flags unfurled outside our windows. We...
The First Evil
The first act of evil in history was not what you’d expect. It came about in a peaceful, verdant garden. It came soothingly. Surreptitiously. Seemingly innocently. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the...
Repent more
I am struck by how infrequently the Church confesses its sins. I am talking to myself here, too. It is easy to confess pride, selfishness, laziness, because these are the kind of sins that make...
Leave the Ashes On
There’s still ash on the back of my hand. The sign of the cross smells like campfire. For some reason it feels weird that Ash Wednesday reminds me of hotdogs and marshmallows and Tonka pies....
Ash Fall: The heat of Ash Wednesday
Ashes mean the end of something. A house burned down, a body cremated, a book torched, a fire dying low. Ashes come out of the flame, and flame means destruction. Destruction like a wooden city...
When the gospel of Judas gets personal
The group of best friends is sitting at a long table, chatting, laughing, celebrating. It’s a holiday and they’re all here, together. This is supposed to be a party. It’s festive out. They’re celebrating the...
Reveling and Wrestling Through ‘The Heart of Man’
It’s a docu-drama that wraps a handful of deeply personal interviews around a sincerely affecting retelling of the story of the prodigal son. Watching the movie on a whim, without any prior context, I was...