What there wasn't time to say on Sunday.
A sermon eventually has to end, but my curiosity usually does not.
A seminary professor once told me, “Your thoughts are nuanced.” I nodded like I understood exactly what he meant, then looked up the word later because I could not tell whether I had been complimented or corrected. I am still not entirely sure.
What I do know is that I have always had a hard time leaving an idea alone. Over more than a decade of preaching, teaching, pastoring, and leading, I have learned that Scripture rarely opens neatly. One passage leads to another, questions create better questions, and sometimes the thing that feels simple at first becomes richer the longer you stay with it. A mentor used to tell me that I sometimes answered questions in sermons that the room was not asking yet. He was probably right.
A sermon eventually has to end, but my curiosity usually does not.
These essays are a place to keep following some of those ideas, including the ones I am still working through myself. They grow out of a prayer that has shaped how I think about teaching and what it means to be responsible for what God gives me:
Lord, if you show me, I will do my best to show them; if you tell me, I will work hard to tell them; if you lead me, I will give my life to leading them.
So this is where I share more of what I am seeing, learning, questioning, and becoming convinced of along the way. You do not have to agree with all of it. I invite you to explore it with me.
Take your time with it. It is nuanced, apparently.
Series: More Than Body and Breath
Death, guilt, separation, purpose, need. Every doorway into the gospel is real, and none of them is the whole house.
Several weeks ago, I spent a Sunday afternoon watching clips of well-known Christian influencers walking around college campuses and local community…
Read the essayGod never speaks out loud in Ruth, and He never stops working. 7 sessions, on your own or with a group.
Open in Grab Your Bibles