Spirituality
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The Difference between Praise Choruses and Hymns
This little story has been floating around Facebook for awhile, so I thought I’d post it here because I found it hilarious! Continue reading
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Our Ancestors Worshipped on this Mountain…
The Samaritan woman at the well, perhaps in an attempt to deflect attention away from her private life, directed a theological question at Jesus: “Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus’ response is widely quoted among Christians today: “God is spirit,… Continue reading
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Take Off Your Shoes, You’re Standing on Holy Ground
Along with many others, I’ve written a bit about how being good stewards of the environment is being obedient to God’s commandment to love our neighbours. However, loving creation is also about loving God. Firstly, if God loves the world and everything that He has made, and we claim to love God, how can it… Continue reading
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The Lord’s Prayer (Alternate Version from the New Zealand Anglican Prayer Book)
Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven: The hallowing of your name echo through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world! Your heavenly will be done by all… Continue reading
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On Slippery Slopes…
I found this post on the blog of Rachel Held Evans; it resonated so deeply with my own spiritual journey from certainty through doubt to faith, that I just had to repost it here: They said that if I questioned a 6,000-year-old earth, I would question whether other parts of Scripture should be read scientifically and… Continue reading
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The Lost World of Genesis: 5 – Dust of the Earth, Image of God
Two contrasting metaphors are used to describe humanity in Genesis. They form the basis of the Judeo-Christian understanding of what it means to be human and our role on this planet. Dust of the Earth On one hand, it is clear that we are creatures, part of God’s magnificent opus of creation. Genesis claims that… Continue reading
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The Lost World of Genesis: 4 – Good, but Not Necessarily Perfect
What is commonly known as ‘the Fall’ plays a significant role in the redemption narrative found in evangelical circles. The assumption is that the original creation, as completed in the first 6 days, was perfect, until Adam and Eve ate of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Till then, there… Continue reading
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The Lost World of Genesis: 3 – Forming and Filling
Now the Earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep… And God set out to correct that. Day 1 to 3 involved shaping and forming what was once formless… Day 1: separating light and darkness Day 2: separating sea and sky Day 3: separating sea and dry land, vegetation The… Continue reading
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The Lost World of Genesis: 2 – Countering the Dominant Culture
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Such a statement would not have been made callously. It was deliberately provocative. It flew in the face of everything the ancient Mesopotamians believed. As the first sentence to a creation story, the origin of God is glaringly omitted, implying that in fact, God has no… Continue reading