musings.from.the.porch

Bad Evangelism

we don’t want to do this

[ January 20, 2007; 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ] What are your early impressions about praying? What images stick in your mind? Here are some that come to me:

The pastor who gave really beautiful, well-crafted, poetic “Congregational Prayers” on Sunday. I knew I could never pray like that. I felt so lame that I wondered what was the point in me praying?
The pastor who […]

[ January 6, 2007; 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. ] Once again Jesus is after our heart condition and what is the motivation behind our actions. While Jesus is the ultimate expression of love of the Creator God to His creation, the tough thing about Jesus for me is that He does not allow compromise or human rationalization or justification for deviation from God’s standard […]

[ November 25, 2006; 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Jesus says,
Again, you have heard that it was said to an older generation, ‘Do not break an oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not take oaths at all – not by heaven, because it is the throne of God, not by earth, because it is his footstool, and […]

[ December 9, 2006; 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ] How do you spend your time? How many people do you really know who are not “in the Club”? Can you be transparent with people who may not understand you? What if you took a risk to listen to - really listen to and show respect for - someone of another religious, spiritual, or philosophical […]

[ December 2, 2006; 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ] When I think about Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 regarding retaliation, I think about conversion.    Conversion is the act of changing from one way of functioning to another. Given that definition, it’s rather odd that when we talk about conversion in the religious sense, we speak of it as though it happens to us only […]

[ November 18, 2006; 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Have your attention? So, help me think about the text ( Matthew 5:27-32) that we have to work with for November 18. I thought I’d record my thoughts here as I develop them and prepare to facilitate the conversation. I have posted my homily thoughts below

Three Zones of Personality

Jesus makes this really hard statement […]

From law to sex to murder. It just keeps going and going! Here are my notes for our meeting on November 11. I would love to get your input. In addition to mentioning murder, it seems that Jesus is also focusing on Anger and Relationships
Recall that just preceding this subject Jesus was validating the law and the […]

[ October 21, 2006; 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ]  Salt and Light

As we begin The Porch, we will be going through the Sermon on the Mount. This was Jesus’ first sermon and it seems good starting point for us as well. To interact with these words of Jesus, we will use both a “homily” and a time of discussion by everyone. In this way, […]