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A Christian Nation?

So here’s my hot take: As a Christian, I don’t believe America is a Christian nation, nor do I want it to be one. Christian Nationalism is a threat to democracy and is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. There is a lot to unpack here! So let’s take it one bite at a time. “As a Christian” What does it even mean to be a Christian? This is a question I have been significantly wrestling with recently. The term...

Detangle: Part 10: Listen to What They DON’T Say

I am trying to be open minded, and humble enough to listen to disparate views, but if I am honest, I am just plain curious. So, I have been tuning into the sermons from the church we left in Indiana; left partly because we found ourselves questioning, frustrated, and even hurt by what we were hearing, and partly because I took a new job hundreds of miles away. Anyway, I’m in the midst of listening to a series on “deconstruction“....

SCOTUS Wrote a Blank Check

This week, The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) handed down two decisions that synergistically amount to a blank check to legalize discrimination and embolden divisiveness and hatred in the name of religion. In 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis the court ruled in favor of a Christian woman who claimed her religious convictions would be violated if she had to develop a website for a gay couple. Of note, this case was based on a hypothetical gay couple. This...

Detangle: Part 9: Rest For Weary Souls (quick read!)

Matthew 11:28-30 (AMP) 28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.” For years I have read these verses and considered them as some kind of personal promise...

Detangle: Part 8: From Perplexity to Harmony

Alright y’all, welcome back to my crazy little brain. Yesterday, my dad sent me a podcast about the Four Stages of Faith. It’s worth a listen. If you don’t have time, check out this great summary chart. The Four Stages of Faith are simplicity, complexity, perplexity, and harmony. Author Brian McLaren obviously knows there are a lot of us doing this deconstruction/detangle thing. And it’s bewildering. His framework helps me see that I am normal, this is a process, and...

Detangle: Part 7: The Lord’s Prayer for Gun Violence

Warning: I am angry. Last night there was another mass shooting. This time in Texax (again). At least 8 dead, many others wounded. Unmeasured psychological trauma for the hundreds involved, lives forever changed for witnessing and responding to chaos and murder. Politicians literally copying and pasting their “thoughts and prayers” messages once again. It’s a chilling and disgusting cycle. Today’s reading is Matthew 6:5-15, The Lord’s Prayer. I’ve taken the liberty to give a modern spin on Jesus’ words. Hang...

Detangle: Part 6: No Need to Hurry

I got the chance to talk to a dear friend this morning. We are both surgeons, wives, and moms. We talk about our kids, our work, our marriages. And we talk about our faith. Or what’s left of it anyway. We both grew up in similar types of churches and shared a good number of similar conservative beliefs. But throughout the last few years, we have both been searching in our faith journey. Questioning, leaning in in some areas, and...

Detangle: Part 5: What does that even mean?

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” –Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride. Blessed. We throw that word around a lot, but I’m not always certain we really grasp what it means. Or the depth of what it could mean. The English language, bless its heart, consistently gives us one word for something that in another language would have multiple words to describe a range of rich meanings. Think about the word...

Detangle: Part 4: Blessed are…

I’m still in Matthew 5, still in the Beatitudes. And gonna be here for a while. There is a lot to digest. I promised you I would show you my messy parts here because I know my messy parts are not unique to me. So buckle up, let’s talk about our hard stuff, and grow together. I am a people pleaser. I mean, to the Nth degree. I want people to like me. Even people who don’t really know me....

Detangle: Part 3: The Kids Will Save Us

A few days ago, our youngest son, Sam, asked if we were going to church on Sunday. We haven’t gone to church on a Sunday morning in about three years (save for Christmas Eve service with extended family), so I was curious where this question came from. Sam attends a non-denominational youth group-like gathering with some of his school buddies. Think: Young Life as we had in high school. While I have my reservations about organizations such as these, I...