Don’t Celebrate BrokennessÂ
Erik Reed:
One value at the church I pastor, The Journey Church, is “pompous-free realness.” This refers to our unwillingness to celebrate facades or masks. We discourage pretending in church because there is a full quota on churches hosting weekly masquerade balls. Churches must be places of refuge for hurting people. People crave realness. So, I am for broken people and welcoming the broken. I do not discourage brokenness. I certainly do not encourage pretending to be good when you, in fact, are not.
My concern is how we use the word. Brokenness is not an excuse to remain in our sins. It is not a justification for habitual wrongdoing. You cannot disregard repentance by pleading “I’m broken.”
Disneyflix is coming. Netflix should be scared.
This is interesting:
Disney, in other words, is constructing what looks to be a worthy rival to Netflix. Will this be enough to inaugurate another century of dominance? Based on its public statements and on private conversations I’ve had with Disney executives, the company’s most likely path forward is to nurture Disneyflix gradually, in an effort to ease the decline of pay-TV and film—the equivalent of saving its flooding fortress by plugging each new leak as it springs. That may be a prudent way to maintain the status quo for a few more years. To save the kingdom, however, Disney may have to blow up the castle.
Rob Bell, Fundamentalist: 5 Ironies from the New Bell Film
Owen Strachan:
I just watched the new Rob Bell documentary. It’s entitled The Heretic. Here’s a better title for it: The Fundamentalist: Rob Bell Walks Through Airports. I’ll explain what I mean below, and encourage you to listen to the podcast I recently recorded with Isaac Dagneau of indoubt ministries.
After viewing The Heretic, I was struck by five ironies that relate not merely to Bell, but “progressive” post-evangelical gurus more broadly. Here they are.
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands—Including Your Kids
Jared Kennedy:
A stewardship vision of parenting—one that says my kids belong to God—is scary, since God doesn’t always meet our expectations. He doesn’t see as we see, nor should he. His vision for our lives is better. Embracing this truth is ultimately freeing, and it will lead us to gratitude.
How to complete a session of The Gospel Project in 20 minutes
This was a fun post to write.
Be Heavenly Minded So That You’re of Earthly Good
T.D. Alexander:
While Christians aren’t immune to feelings of despair and hopelessness, faith in Jesus Christ lessens the pain of pessimism and despair. Faith in the resurrected Son of God gives us confidence to trust that this life is but the prelude to something more wonderful.
Earth Day, religious devotion and creation care
A favorite from the archives:
The first time I heard about Earth Day was when it interrupted my Saturday morning cartoons. I was probably seven or eight at the time, and this particular weekend NBC decided to air one of their NBC All Star type shows. This one featured the Huxtable family talking about how we shouldn’t be taking long showers as it wastes water. This was a way we could take care of Planet Earth. Next, came the announcement at school: because we had to do our part to care for the planet, we’d be spending a couple hours on Earth Day cleaning up trash in the school yard and the surrounding neighborhood.