The Pastor as Counselor: Care That is Christian (Pastor: Chap.7)

To see the entire Pastor series thus far click HERE.
 

Re-Thinking Pastoral Care
by Thomas Parkinson 
The recent story of pastoral care and counseling in America has been a tragic one. Every Christian tradition – Catholic, Protestant, Conservative, Liberal – has experienced the devastating consequences of pastoral care and counseling that turns into sexual and emotional abuse. Appropriate [...]

Jesus Christ is Lord

This is a rough draft from one of the chapters of my book FundaMergent. This is one of the 5 fundamentals I am arguing are true for Emergent Christians (to get the full list see Why I Am a FundaMergent). One of the differences between these fundamentals and those of “fundamentalists” is that these 5 [...]

Thoughts On Universal Health Care

I have been listening to some of the arguments by those who are opposed to universal health care.   To be fair, most of them are not opposed to everyone having health care like they themselves have.  Rather, they are opposed to the proposed plan to bring it about.  I get that.  However, what I [...]

The Best But in the Bible

Sermon for Sunday, July 19, 2009
Text:  Ephesians 2:1-10
The Best But in the Bible
I wish to share with you the joy of discovery that happened to me this week in study and preparation for this sermon.    In this second chapter to the Ephesian church Paul tells a group of people (along with us today) who [...]

Eternal Punishment???

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I have been in a lively discussion about the eternality of hell and its punishment, particularly over a verse in Matthew which reads:  
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life (Matt. 25:46).  
I have become convinced that this is a terrible way to translate this verse and misses [...]

Derek Webb and What Matters More

Derek Webb’s new album Stockholm Syndrome is now available for download prior to its official release.  I highly recommend it along with everything else Derek Webb has done.   Webb is a much needed prophetic voice in the music industry and I applaud him for taking to task issues that many of us in the church [...]

Reflections on Revelation 21-22

Revelation 21
 
NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH 
 
Notes…
 

John sees a “new heaven and new earth” where he adds “the sea was no more.”  The “sea” represents chaos and rebellion – it is the untamed part of creation.    In the new heaven and earth no “sea” exists because there is no longer any chaos or disorder or [...]

Pastor as Preacher: Servant of the Word. Chapter 6 of “Pastor”

The Risk of Preaching
by Thomas Parkinson
 Three months ago, the congregation I serve as associate pastor went through a sudden and shocking change.  Due to some deeply personal struggles, our senior pastor was forced to retire after ten years of service to our church.  Our District Superintendent (Methodist terminology for our regional church leaders) came and [...]

Reflections on Revelation: Chapters 19-20

As always, I am indebted to Mitchell Reddish and his commentary “Revelation” for the notes on this series.
 

Revelation 19  
CELEBRATION IN HEAVEN AND THE TRIUMPHANT CHRIST
 

Rejoice!   We are being called to be overwhelmed in this opening part of chapter 19 as heaven and earth are united in glorious songs of praise to God as [...]

Happy Interdependence Day

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; [...]

Prayer as Theosis

This post was originally published at another site where I contribute each month.  It is a dialogical experiment where different topics are discussed each month.  This month is prayer and last month was the Imago Dei.   I invite you to check out this site and read what some of the other contributors have to [...]

Why I am a FundaMergent

I was recently introduced to one more of the many so-called (and self-proclaimed) “discernment” blogs that exist and was reminded of the many reasons why I believe Fundamentalism is one grand adventure in missing the point.   The discussions that have been going on at that site and elsewhere (along with my friend Nic Paton) [...]

Pastor as Interpreter of Scripture: Pastor, Chapter Five

Interpreting New Worlds
by Chad Holtz
I was reminded of a story while reading this chapter that I heard several years ago.  I do not remember who it is from but if I had to guess I’d say Karl Barth.  It goes like this…
Imagine yourself in a warehouse full of people, crates, antiques, and various odds and [...]