I’m re-reading Exclusion and Embrace, by Miroslav Volf, one of my favorite professors in seminary. I’m being reminded how central this book’s ideas have become in my own life. His basic premise is that living as a follower of Christ requires us to be willing …
Read MoreRadical inclusiveness
(Some of you will have seen this before…sorry. It’s been published in two places. But Robin’s comment on my last post asked some questions about my view on women, so I thought I’d regurgitate this for the blog.) I sighed as I climbed the stairs …
Read MoreDr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Early morning…April 4…shot rang out in a Memphis sky Free at last…they took your life…they could not take your Pride. Pride (in the name of love), U2 14 days later, I was born. I’ve spent time in the last few years reading about the decade …
Read MoreHow Star Trek challenges Quakers
(Bob will hate this post; Star Trek is up there with Journey in his book. But, AJ might like it, or at least her dad.) There’s this moment in Star Trek: First Contact that I remembered the other day. The whole crew of the Enterprise …
Read MoreWhat’s a Pacifist to do on Veteran’s Day?
Today, we as a nation honor people for doing what I don’t think is the right thing to do: fight in war. What’s a pacifist to do? Distinguish between disagreeing with the principle of war, and disdain of the people who choose to serve in …
Read MoreWhy I’m a Quaker
I’m a Quaker because Quakers have opened up experiences with God in me that have changed my life. I’m a Friend because Friends, at our best, combine a passionate, alive, and vital experience of God with a fearless engagement of destructive social structures in the …
Read MorePeacemaking again
In a previous post, I was trying to make the point that if we get a broader view of the cross, it serves as a very helpful undergirding for living a life of peacemaking. I want to add to that, starting with this: “For God …
Read MoreThe cross as a way of life
It’s more than Jesus’ teaching that leads to a life of peacemaking and pacifism. You’d be hard pressed to find a Christian who didn’t believe that the life Jesus lived ought to serve as a model for how we live our lives. But it’s fairly …
Read MorePeacemaking and the Old Testament
Marta asked in the comments (and if you haven’t discovered by now, comments and questions are the “fix” we bloggers seek) to talk more about peacemaking and pacifism, and in particular how it meshes with God endorsing war in the Old Testament. (Disclaimer: this is …
Read More“What was your favorite seminary experience and why?”- Part 4
Almost exactly halfway through my seminary experience, the first gulf war broke out; and it helped me to realize that I had made up my mind…I was a pacifist. I came to George Fox College pretty much knowing I felt called to be a pastor, …
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