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What’s So Extraordinary about Mary?
I have often heard it said in church circles that the Catholic church makes too much of Mary while the Protestant arm of the body makes too little. Not until I really looked into the life and decisions of Mary did I begin to realize how subversive, brave, and significant Mary is to the church, particularly women. She contributes some incredibly important and often overlooked encouragement to the role of women within the church. 1: Mary accepts God’s call on her life without consulting the men in her life. Mary doesn’t ask Gabriel to wait while she consults Joseph on this new development. She must be well aware that becoming…
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The Five Contradictions of the Servant Gift
The men and women at church operating with the redemptive gifting of a servant are almost always obvious. Whether printing flyers, setting up coffee, fixing anything broken, or just vacuuming the hallways, they arrive first and leave last. They serve on committees and stand in for Sunday school teachers who can’t make it last minute. Pastors love them. And it is so easy to see why. Servants don’t fuss. They just get the job done with little or no drama. But in the busyness of church life, the ones with a true servant gifting are often overlooked for what is their truest and deepest callings. Shoved into Martha roles, they…
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How to Practice Your Salvation
For most of my life as a Christian, salvation was a one-time event. You went to the altar call or got yourself baptized and the deal was sealed. I learned in Sunday school and from countless sermons that salvation was through grace or sometimes through faith, depending on the denomination. The primary reason I could be saved was that Jesus died for my sins. I have since discovered that these are half-truths, really. Before you decide that I am a heretic for questioning the time-honored formulas for salvation, I have to first clarify that I firmly believe in all of the statements of the Nicene Creed. My issue is not…
Healing Through Art & Words
