parables of a prodigal world

One of my posts was published over at Check it out in the "Faith" section. Grace and Peace, Raffi

My pastor asked me to introduce a teaching series on Romans to our congregation. I laughed. "Haaa..ha..haaaaah...haah...haa! You want me to do what ! Romans?! " "Romans," he replied. He was serious. "You're serious," I said. "I'm serious," he replied. He was serious. "Why not just ask me to introduce world history," I replied jokingly. He didn't laugh. He was serious. "You're serious," I checked one last time. He was serious. So yesterday I spoke to our congregation about Romans. It was serious. Here are 10 things I learned in preparing for that presentation. Maybe not the "top" 10, but more of the first 10 that popped to mind. 1. Romans is BIG. 2. Paul was a genius. 3. God is BIG. 4. God is a genius. 5. No one can ever "know" Romans. 6. I'm no longer concerned whether I'm justified, glorified, sanctified, or deep fried; I know that I'm loved, and that's enough for me. 7. I w...

And the winner (by TKO) of the Too-Ridiculous-to-Respond Contest is.... (Drumroll...) (Drumroll...) (Long drumroll...) This gem from Mofast : All right, this letter probably couldn't actually be sent, however it seems the logical way to do it. I'm guessing I won't be the only one who tries in this style, but here goes: My Dearest Gschwandtner, I do wonder what Slubgob is teaching these days. I must say that I am not entirely encouraged by your latest attempt at spreading discord among the humans (the disgusting bipeds). Are you really chasing down occurrences of the term “selling power” through internet searches, and then threatening blogs? Did you really fail to notice that usage you questioned was a citation from a book published in 1942, well before you even had the idea for your magazine? That despicable book, “The Screwtape Letters,” is horrible enough without you drawing attention to it with pointless, threatening letters. What is your plan, bringing that detestable ...

The conversation around the blogosphere (or the small slice of it that I follow) has forced many of us to re-think many facets of the Emerging/Emergent movement. Steve Knight has a list of some of the pertinent posts concerning the conversation over at Emergent Village (I was honored to see my Open Letter listed among them). I'd add Jonathan's recent post at EV to the list as well. I've followed the conversation pretty closely. Here are 10 things I've learned as a result, in no particular order: 1. There are far more Emergents than simply those that use the label. 2. It is immensely difficult to sustain a movement without clearly delineated borders; that's made me sad. 3. Names are really important...far more important than we can ever realize. 4. I've understood why, when Moses asked for God's name on Mt. Sinai, God said what He said. 5. While Jesus' yoke will turn out to be light, it can feel as heavy as a solid-wood cross along the way. 6. The opp...