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Revisiting Jason Upton’s music
There was a period when Jason Upton’s music would make it into worship sets (lists of music) I would put together for church use. He always had a rawness in his poetic expression that I liked: “Let the fire fall, let the wind blow, let your glory come down” “Come up here, come up now,…
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Jesus didn’t come to make Christians
“Jesus didn’t come to make Christians.” It’s something I said, practically in passing, at a faith discussion group that I help facilitate in my neighborhood. I recall that the discussion was making a turn toward identity politics (Who is or isn’t a Christian) or confessional pride (as in saying, “I believe in Jesus” and really…
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The Parable of the Wedding Banquet and the kingdom of heaven
in bibleToday, I started to look more deeply at a less common interpretation of the Parable of the Wedding Banquet (Matthew 22:1-14). I can’t remember where I first heard this interpretation, but it’s come up again recently because it was the lectionary reading for this past Sunday so I took this opportunity to look more into…
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iceland stories
Last month, our family went to Iceland together for the first time. Steph and I have been twice before: honeymoon and five-year anniversary. We rented a camper van and drove around the island. We visited some of the highlights from our previous trips that we wanted to share with them: Godafoss, whale watching, Glacier lagoon,…
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Learning to be brave and mend with gold
There are two books that are actively on my mind now. This summer I started a book discussion group around the recently released (I think April 2026) We Mend With Gold by Kristin T. Lee. The subtitle of the book, An Immigrant Daughter’s Reckoning with American Christianity, says a lot. We’ve had one meeting about…
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Saving a thread
Earlier this week I came across a threads post that I very much resonated with. I would later learn in the comments that it was the result of a “conversation” someone had with Gemini to help him synthesize some of what he was writing and reading, and I found it to be just that: a…
