Author: norman
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Rest and watch. Don’t be in a hurry.
It’s been almost 2 months since I wasn’t allowed to stay at my former church of almost 11 years. It’s been difficult. I’ve been writing about it since early October but I don’t know when I’ll finish. So taking a break from writing my story so that I could let other ideas out while that…
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My Story at King’s Cross Church
A note from the future (January 2025). One of the promises I made to myself as a commitment to processing this grief is to return to this post, but no sooner than one year later. It’s taken me just as long to read through this as it took to write it. Whatever hopes that I…
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dead gods and the living god
There’s a chapter from a book by Justo Gonzalez that I often come back to called, “Let the Dead Gods Bury Their Dead.” Here’s an excerpt from one of the early paragraphs: Some gods are better dead than alive. Humankind did not lose a great deal when Huitzilopochtli and his cohorts lost their power to…
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pastor and congregation
I sit here writing this reflection with about 5 weeks before my final day at the church, and I don’t know if I’ll ever put this out into the public. But in this moment, I’m pondering, What is the pastor’s relationship to the congregation? And in these final months, I’m ever aware that my time…
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Ignorance, grace, and fruitfulness
One afternoon, after church, I was chatting with a church member who was reflecting on her childhood upbringing at her church. In particular, she recalled with fondness a series of youth revival events called “Jesus Generation” that were held at her church. When she mentioned it, I wasn’t sure if she was punking me. I…
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Lead with love
We recently finished up a sermon series for church on the book of Titus. It wasn’t the easiest book to preach on, but I am pleased with how it turned out. As I was finishing the last sermon, one refrain that I kept going back to “lead with love” as a way to live out…