Dear Theophilus

Erin, the kids, and I are moving. We are moving into some apartments in Thermalito that have always had a bad reputation while I was growing up. We are doing this on purpose in an attempt to live with and in the community we are hoping to minister to. Our approach to church and ministry (service) is that we follow this incarnational model. In short, and in our limited understanding of theology, we want to follow Jesus and do what he did. The Gospel of John, chapter 1, tells us that Jesus, the Word of God revealed in a person, "The Word became flesh and made his home among us." Incarnation = Jesus became the flesh presence of God on Earth. Incarnational = to be the flesh presence God in a community. To be a real person living with and in the place. To experience what the people experience. To be in solidarity with the purpose of redemption. Usually when people talk about incarnational ministry they assume that the place is underserved, underprivileged, and marginalized....

My last two posts were about the meaning of Ephesians 1-3. You can read them here and here if you would like. But seeing that this is the word of God for the people of God in all ages, contexts, tribes, and places, how do we apply such a specific meaning to our lives and churches? First, a summary of Ephesians 1-3 may help catch us up: Summary: In the Letter to the Ephesians, Paul is writing to a mostly, if not exclusively, Gentile audience. He is not writing about individual salvation, but about how Christ brings the Gentiles into God's covenant/people. This conclusion is come to from 3 major sections: Ephesians 1 - Paul talks about the work of Christ as revealing the mystery of God. Ephesians 2 - Paul talks about the cross of Christ uniting both Jew and Gentile into one body. Ephesians 3 - Paul reveals what the revelation was he received from God, tells us what the mystery is that Christ reveals, and a major implication of what the gospel is: the inclusion ...

Below is one of the first major papers I have had to write for my schooling. It is an integrative between two week long classes, the first being about worship and the second about Justice and Mercy. I wish I could have had about 5 more hours with it. Please feel free to critique ideas... I am not so interested in grammar and punctuation :) Faith without Works is Dead In finding the connection between acts of Justice/Mercy and the Acts of Piety, I feel there is a tendency to over-play the connection. Many Christians and churches and even scholars want to convey an idea of consequence; that proper worship will beget proper mission. I feel that this tendency is so strong it has been a lens through which I have read the readings and interpreted the theologians. But the scholars aren’t completely guiltless in forming this causal relationship. There seems to be a purposed set of scholarship that is fighting for a middle way between the conservative individualism that has plagued...