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The Heart is Deceitful? Not so Fast

Posted on by Michael Rose
The scriptures speak from many voices with different experiences and different contexts.  So we need to be careful when we build a cornerstone of our theological worldview on a single verse.  One such example is Jeremiah 17:9. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Is the heart deceitful?…
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The Slap

Posted on by Michael Rose
Rock’s ‘joke’ at Pinket Smith expense prompted her husband (and that nights Best Actor winner) Will Smith to leave his seat, walk onto the stage, and slap Chris Rock. Returning to his seat, Will Smith told Rock in no uncertain terms that he was to stop the cruel jokes at his Jada Pinket-Smith’s expense.
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Pluriform Love by Thomas Jay Oord

Pluriform Love – A Review

Posted on by Michael Rose
I enjoyed an advanced copy of Thomas Jay Oord’s latest book, Pluriform Love—a more academic read than Oord’s recent works, but that shouldn’t scare you off. Oord writes in such a way as to be accessible to a wide swath of interested readers.    In Pluriform Love, Oord pushes back on some well-entrenched theological sacred…
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The Crazy Father

Posted on by Michael Rose
A father had two sons, and one of his sons came to him and said, “Dad, I have been thinking it’s time for me to leave and find myself. I need to figure out who I am and make my fortune, my own way in the world. So, I would like you to give me…
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Cosmic Community in Christ

Posted on by Michael Rose
Today I’m pondering estrangement, loneliness and isolation alongside the Apostle Paul’s idea about Christ’s mission “to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” Eph..1:10 NRSV. I am wondering about the shift from alienation, offence and estrangement to an experience of deep relationality and healing connectedness to one another; from…
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Seed to the Wind

Posted on by Michael Rose
Conversion Therapy is the discredited practice that attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity by various modalities, including different kinds of prayer. The harm of such practices is well-documented, and the stories of those who have endured such are dreadfully painful.   Conversion Therapy Flagship ministries who had claimed to successfully “pray…
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‘Been There’, “Done That’ from a little further along the Way

Posted on by Michael Rose
Continuing my journey from deconstruction to reconstruction, it’s interesting to recognize how I seem to have come full circle on things like giving, leadership, structures, scriptures, and mission… But this time from a different vantage point, recognizing that the “issue” wasn’t the issue per se, but rather the culturally-inherited and significant misunderstanding/misapplications of Love resulting…
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