Imaginative Relational Worship

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​Now that I've dissed the human practices of baptism and prayer to emphasize relationship and action as faithful expressions of vocation, I need to deconstruct the lurking dichotomy before it leads to a misunderstood autolaborological or morphological fundamentalism. If my thinking is on a solid trajectory, which will have to prove out, then the connection between the actions of vocation and the practices of worship meet in the relationships of baptism and prayer that expand imagination for discernment. Said (hopefully) more clearly, our worship practices shape our imaginations for seeing and hearing how God is calling us to help our neighbor.

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Hello, Vocation. How Are You Today?

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​​After an encouraging set of conversations with Marc Kolden and Dirk Lange (nerd squeal), I finally caught the cold that's been going around here for a while. As I'm on the mend, I thought it time to being piecing together vocation and worship, the task Kolden sees as the most daunting theological element of my argument. This post will look particularly to vocation, as a setup for the next post on worship.

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A Public Dosado

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​Public discourse in the United States has changed significantly in recent history. I've written on the fact-value split of Modernity before, but the current public discourse around the U.S. Supreme Court's hearings on Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 have attuned me to a significant change in the conversation. SInce this is one of the most heated conversations of our day, I have to spend some time setting the stage so I can point to this change. So bow to your partner... Allemande left... And dosado...

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Missional Finances

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​One of the classic debates in congregations and church organizations is the debate between the mission of the church and the money this particular expression of the church has. In a recent meeting, I was unexpectedly asked to talk about this relationship, which I did rather ineloquently. This TheoThru will therefore look at that debate and try to find a theological ground for the conversation--a conversation I have a feeling more than a few expressions of the church are having.

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The New Modern Public

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The central move of Modernity was to separate facts and values. Facts, which we can all agree on because they are provable, measurable, and repeatable, are fair game for public conversation. Values, which we cannot prove, should be kept for private moments. With this turn, events like the Thirty Years War and the Hundred Years War found ends through renegotiating the grounds for conversation.

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The Odd is Sea

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Part of specializing in any profession is the creation of particular vocabulary to more quickly express ideas that normal people would otherwise recognize. One such theological vocabulary word is "theodicy," which encapsulates for theologians the question of why God allows bad things to happen. Most people who believe in some kind of god usually end up asking this question at some point in their lives. The problem for theologians, however, is that its actually a pretty boring question.Read More

How Do You Get To Carnegie Hall?

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Given my mini-rant against self-chosen Lenten disciplines, I should probably spend some time doing what will seem like talking out of the other side of my mouth and reflect on practices. They are, after all, both how our communities are created and identified, and also how we are formed and equipped to live in the world. And of course... well... Do I really have to type it!?Read More