There is a prevalent idea among many Christians, spurious though it is, that women cannot serve in church leadership as ministers, or to teach men in any capacity such as in a seminary class. To do so these folks claim is to ignore Biblical authority. In their view, the world is a sinful place filled …
Category: Theological reflections
Strike!
Today all around the world people are striking for climate change because government's have been responding at a sloth like pace. A movement that began in large measure because of the persistence of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who has become the face of the movement, has grown exponentially. I wholeheartedly thank her for standing in …
Incremental changes
In permaculture design, one of the principles is to make the least change for the greatest effect. One of the reasons to do this is to ensure that one doesn't overdo something--like I did while trimming my beard the other day which left me with some designer stubble rather than a full beard...Another reason, in …
What we should never forget about 9/11
In response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City, the Pentagon, and in a hijacked airplane over Pennsylvania, country music superstar Alan Jackson put out a single entitled "Where were you?" I was living in El Paso, TX in officer housing on Fort Bliss, the army base where my then wife was …
A Prayer for Donald Trump
Holy God I lift up Donald Trump, the currant occupant of the White House, in whose hands rest an enormous amount of power, and I pray Holy One, that you will with astonishing grace pierce through the hardness of his heart that has led him to behave in such reprehensible ways. Holy One, Trump's words …
Supporting Trump: A theological consideration
Can you be faithful to Jesus and support Trump? Read on...
Fourth of July reflections
Summer time and the living is easy...so goes the song lyric. When I was a kid in elementary school living in Kansas City, MO, summer time was a time when good memories got made. Some of those memories are related to the fourth of July celebrations, that in my youthful innocence and ignorance I took …
A poem for Memorial Day
You've lived your life thinking that every war mattered Wars that we 'won' and that one where America got battered But not before we left verdant Vietnam all torn and tattered Now what will you do since that the illusion's been shattered Propagandists exposed, let's show them door Refuse to believe their phony …
He remembered my name.
In 2015, I was in the midst of an existential crisis. The right livelihood I had attempted to carve out for myself as a permaculturist (see Go Golden chapter seven for an introduction to permaculture) had not worked out as planned. I was struggling to find work, living in a tiny attic bedroom we were renting from …
Christian persecution in America?
Vice President, and fundamentalist Christian, Mike Pence recently told the predominantly white graduates of Liberty University (a fundamentalist university run by Jerry Falwell, Jr. who is a vocal Trump supporter) that they should be prepared to be ridiculed and shunned for holding what he calls "traditional Christian beliefs." In his view the "voices for tolerance" …
The Tattooed Theologian 