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God Chooses You
Here’s a little window into my thought process as I re-hashed some old biblical interpretation battles from seminary: I was reading Ephesians the other day and I had to deal with this word “predestination” again. In Ephesians 1:3-6 Paul writes Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed…
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Like a Thief in the Night
I was doing something very dangerous yesterday- flying down Pine Street on my bike listening to Rich Mullins with my headphones in. It was dangerous in 4 ways: 1) The obvious safety hazard of riding a bike without being able to hear 2) The scorn I could receive from my musically cool friends for listening…
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Why I take pictures of the sky
I took this picture of the sky 2 years ago and I still remember how giddy I was as I raced up Washington Avenue under this shimmering shelf of clouds. I had a little echo of that joy as I crossed the Grays Ferry Bridge tonight under a slightly less spectacular (in relative terms) evening…
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Reminder: Do not to snuff out the fire of God burning in your heart (because you can do that)
Dear friends and followers of Jesus (and those listening to me even though you aren’t Christians), you are beloved of God. Your heart burns within you all the time and you know this. Jesus is with you exposing the negatives of your experience. Wait for the picture to emerge. Don’t despair. There’s a fire in…
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What I whisper in your ear, shout from the rooftops
We need to pray more. Everyone is shouting something from the rooftop and volume will not remedy the situation. If we’re going to meet the next 50-75 people we need to multiply our congregation at Circle of Hope Broad and Washington, we’re going to need to make ourselves available for a lot more whispers in…
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Do what you can now, rather than what you should never
Last night we gathered in Germantown with some folks who were new to Circle of Hope. We were casting the vision and inviting them into partnership in our work for God’s redemption project. Our goal is to create an environment where people can connect with God and act for redemption. This is unique. we cultivate…
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What sort of self do you have?
A Balkan born theologian and philosopher, Miroslav Volf, knows how to write a cogent argument! I’ve copied a rather lengthy quote because it just had to be shared and I think it speaks to our work of inclusion as a community on mission. “Through faith and baptism the self has been re-made in the image…
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On Dying with Jesus
“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” –Philippians 3 It’s not exactly good advertising: COME DIE WITH JESUS! That’s one reason people aren’t flocking into the Church these days.…
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Helping kids find their voice with Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss was a prophet. The Lorax is a creation care manifesto, The Butter Battle Book is a telling allegory of the cold war, The Sneetches is about racism, Horton Hatches an Egg tells the story of a nonviolent sit in. I love Dr. Seuss. So I jumped at the chance to participate in a…
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How slow is too slow?
When I was in third grade my music teacher, Ms. Smedley, taught me all kinds of ridiculous songs that I for some reason remember all the words too. One of them was this little calypso/reggae jam with two verses that had the same melody but two different rhythms that reflected their dichotomous lyrics. “Hurry, hurry,…
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I’m not sure God is as unsure of you as you are of yourself
No, I’m sure- God knows you are capable of all kinds of awesomeness– much, much more awesomeness than you currently think. Our experience of ourselves is so limited isn’t it? For starters, my voice sounds completely different inside my head than it does in your ears. That’s why it’s so weird to hear a recording…
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How do I escape the stereotype?
I got stuck on the trolley for about 45 minutes last week. I also got stuck being a Christian The trolleys were broken down in the tunnel and we were beyond the diversion point. We just had to wait it out. Instead of being consumed by my fantasy novel I struck up a conversation with…
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Going it together
I went to King of Prussia for lunch today. My friend Phil works in a business park. I had never been to a business park before. It was very interesting. It got me thinking about how incredibly astute we need to be at our isolation to remain separated they way we are. Out of the…
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Invitation
In Circle of Hope we say our vision for fulfilling our mission is this: “We create an environment where people can connect with God and act for redemption. Responding in love to our thirsty region and fractured society, we are birthing a new generation of the church to resist and restore with those moved by…
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Creativity, the Holy Spirit and Everything in Between
In my job as Development Pastor at Circle of Hope Broad and Washington I am always on the hunt for a good idea- a new flyer idea, an idea for an event that could attract some new friends, a new idea for how to engage someone at an event in the city. Doing so much…
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Why are you doing this?
A few weeks ago, I was sitting on my bench on Locust Walk at the University of Pennsylvania holding my “tell me your story sign”. It turns our it was parent’s weekend and I got two stories from proud Penn parents. One man, D, came up to me and said, “Ok, you’ve piqued my interest.…
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I’m that guy with the sign
At one point this week I was having a conversation with 3 new acquaintances simultaneously about 1) good and evil 2) greek tragedies, 3) vampires and 4) the broken Democratic machine in Philadelphia. My “Tell Me Your Story” bench kind of blossomed on Monday afternoon. That wasn’t the only multi-person conversation I had either. I’m…
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What are we known for? What is Jesus known for?
At a job I had many years ago I discovered at some point that I was known as “that crazy christian guy.” The person delivering this news to me was not trying to hurt me so I wasn’t offended but I did consider being offended. I didn’t like being called “crazy” and I didn’t like…
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Tell Me Your Story, Penn
My friend, Howard Pinder, came up with this great idea. The “Tell Me Your Story” sign. I’ve been emulating him at the University of Pennsylvania this week. It’s pretty fun! People look at me when I’m holding the sign, many look away when I meet their gaze, they look away and smile. Many give a…
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Circle of Hope’s Public Joy
I was driving down the Broad Street on Sunday when all of a sudden I had to pull over abruptly in the center “parking lane.” My friends, Forest and Ben were playing guitars in front of the library at Broad and Morris! It was a beautiful morning and these beautiful people were making some beautiful…
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Today, if you hear his voice 