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The View From Here
First day of vacation. I mostly followed these instructions. We’re looking forward to opening one of these on an icy January day and smelling summer.
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Everything I Know about Racism I Learned in the Church
During college, I volunteered for the youth ministry at a church. Every year at the volunteer Christmas party, the two white guys who worked for the ministry dressed up as “black guys from the hood” and performed an entirely unoriginal and unfunny skit that exploited negative black male stereotypes for laughs. I remember looking around the room…
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Readers on Reading: Brandon O’Brien
Years ago I asked a friend – a knowledgeable, interesting friend – what he was reading. “I don’t read,” was his answer and a confused stutter was my reply. I’ve asked lots of people this question since then and am no longer surprised by my friend’s response. It seems there are many people or whom…
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Ellul on Jesus and Mammon
In preparation for an upcoming sermon on money I’ve been dipping into Money and Power by Jacques Ellul. In a section titled “What Money Really Is” Ellul makes a theological point I’d not previously considered. (Others have surely made it, but Ellul does so forcefully and provocatively, as anyone familiar with his writing would expect.) Reflecting…
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Lamenting An Old Story
On Sunday our church took time to consider some of the implications of Trayvon Martin’s murder and George Zimmerman’s acquittal. Paul’s charge to the church in Romans 12:15 was our starting point: “rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” The entire tragic story – from the initial profiling to the eventual verdict…
David W. Swanson
Pastor and Author
David W. Swanson 