me:

New version of the Gospel: Jesus has been crowned king of the cosmos via His execution and resurrection! We get to join him as His subjects and vassal regents! As such, we get to help Him in the (re)conquest of what is rightfully His. Start establishing your inheritance of His kingdom now! All you have to do to get started is repent!

friend:

Yes, I might just add the following: Jesus has been crowned king of the cosmos via His execution and resurrection! His Kingdom is founded on radical love for all and His commands are that we love others as He loves us. He calls us to join him as His subjects and vassal regents! As such, we get to help Him in the (re)conquest of what is rightfully His. Start establishing your inheritance of His kingdom now by turning from a life done your way and live His way—with radical love for Him and others!

Or something like that. For me it has to include something about his commands and his love. The Gospel to me is basically something like this:

1. God is...

Here’s why accusing God when he doesn’t save a baby about to drown in a swimming pool is casuistry: “While we may sometimes be blameworthy for failing to use our bodies to prevent genuine evils, the God without a localized divine body is not culpable” (Thomas Jay Oord).

“Think thoughts that are as clear as possible, but no clearer; say things as simply as possible, but no simpler.”

— William Sloane Coffin, Jr.

Partially reformed perfectionist’s hack: Remind yourself it’s imperfect to be a perfectionist.

“Questioning involves courage, refusal to allow one’s beliefs to be challenged involves fear. And so which should be called ‘faith’ and which should be called ‘doubt’?

– James F. McGrath, “Doubt in Faith’s Clothing”

Whenever I go to the library with the kids, I feel like a failure as a parent. It has something to do with their choice of reading.

When I am deciding what to read next, I will consider listening to musical works and Science Mike podcast episodes as well.

The Cross was for us, not for God. What glorious condescension!

“[T]o say that God turns away from the wicked is like saying that the sun hides itself from the blind.”

– St. Anthony the Great, as quoted by Stephen Freeman in making the point that the talk in the Bible about God’s wrath is metaphorically referring to the natural consequences of separate from Him, not Him actually whooping us

You say you care about the poor?
Then tell me, what are their names?

— Gustavo Gutierrez, as tweeted by Jarrod McKenna

Do not marry unless you can without any doubt decide to commit the rest of your life to that person.

Thank you, Ethan, for requesting employee input ahead of annual reviews. Thank you, Éa, for being up for me walking the mile and a half to school today after you had a bellyache that kept you off the school bus. Thank you, Carla, for being someone to admire, you doula, preschool teacher, mom, councilwoman, and tumbler. Thank you, God, for making the problem of evil and the problem of unanswered prayer seem small today. Thank you, Bones, for delicious bread and fun times. Thank you, Frank Capra, for making It’s A Wonderful Life, which we plan to watch this Friday on Blu-ray. Thank you, Sony, for developing the Blu-ray format.

We are lonely and feel busy because we resent not being sufficient as islands and because doing something means we’re not doing a million other things.

That bit in Mark about Herod thinking Jesus to be John the Baptizer returned from the dead isn’t the worst of the case against N.T. Wright’s central premise that the Resurrection is believable because it forms a complete reorientation of the Jewish mindset about resurrection: Read Luke 9:19.

You know, I just queued a recurring task for Sunday evenings: “Set this week’s read-and-reflect time.” But methinks it a better approach to remind myself that the apt time is almost always now for stopping at whim for people, God, rest, or recreation. Do what you want.

Hymns are the way to catechize the kids.

Next someone asks “How’ve you been?” and you’re about to reply “busy,” try saying “overcommitted” instead. It might serve as a humbling, epiphanic, change-enabling confession.

Healing is not the point. But is important enough that God does do it. Rest in the idea that He will tell you when to heal when it is time.

It’s a really good idea to swear off screens for Sundays, at least through bedtime.

Twitter is a way to surround yourself with the most interesting people in the world—to the detriment of your engagement with the people around you.

Stick to the plan, that’s all. Just stick to the plan.

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

— Maya Angelou

“I need your loving” = the family! I can feel the difference if I concentrate exclusively on them and don’t just move them around the house like furniture.

“Trust is important, but trustworthiness is even more so. Trust is only as good as is the trustworthiness of that in which we place our trust.” Thank you, Miroslav Volf, for saying what I said two years ago about why faith is a virtue.

When the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. Taking them with Him, He withdrew by Himself to a city called Bethsaida. But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing (Luke 9:10-11).

Sometimes—probably often—Jesus gave preference to the needs, desires, and priorities of others over His own.