What follows was inspired by a few things. One, words of Christian theologian Willie Jennings spoken soon after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor: Jennings’ observations on anger and God surprised me and further illuminated my own long struggle with a grieving outrage that sometimes feels debilitating. He also gave me permission to feel my anger as part […]

Careful, there…. “intelligent design” can mean two quite different things. First, and most popular in some circles, is the idea that evolution may be occurring much of the time, but that in addition God kinda “sticks his finger in” (my phrase) to stop, start, or alter what is happening. Science tends to object to this on rather simple grounds: there’s […]

The below editorial was written in 2001, soon after the events of 9/11, and published in Cornerstone magazine. -=- “Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.” (Psalm 143:2 NIV) Second tower is struck by hijacked plane, Sept 11, 2001   September 11, 2001, I saw the orange fireball of human righteousness. America—the […]

Forgive the wry title. And forgive the rambling, unkempt nature of what follows. But what happened to the word “cult” in the 1980s has now also happened to the word “terrorist.” Religious scholar Gordon Melton, I believe, once defined “cult” this way: “A cult is a religious group that we do not happen to like.” I would suggest this: “A […]

photo, Jon Trott (c) 2005 Responding to a short paragraph introducing My Scarlet Seven lyric of a few days back (I guess the lyric itself wasn’t worth a comment! Haha), an anonymous poster asked: Can you clarify what you mean by “in fact a Christian because of erotic love” ? I posted the below as a reply there, but then […]

The below sermon, delivered at Jesus People USA’s Aug 12 service (at Joan Arai School), was provoked by many things too personal to blog on. Suffice it to say that I find myself continually falling short of God’s agape (charity). And that these feelings have recently been racheted up a few more notches as I observed others I love dearly […]

Good Friday Church Service, Jesus People USA – Photo Jon Trott (c) 2010 “What is it that leads you to Christianity today?” [This question, along with my answer, comes from my face book page. I’d like to thank Sean Huncherick for asking the question.] Q: Clearly you’ve done a good amount of research on different beliefs, so I have to […]

[by C. Stephen Evans – from Cornerstone Archives, Issue 116] Everyone agrees that Love lies at the Center of the Christian Life. There can be no intellectual task more important for the Church than the task of developing an understanding of the nature of Christian love, and what that love demands from us in the form of action. This is […]

Some times, even for someone who’s been doing it for over thirty-nine years, reading the Bible can be like being ambushed by a Grizzly Bear. I’m not talking about some passage that is one of those “Why did God put *that* in there?” problem passages that folks sometimes use as an excuse to toss the whole thing. I’m talking instead […]

Six years ago… or was it longer?… I was asked to pinch hit with a Sunday Sermon (the JPUSA pastors were out of town or something). What I offered up was a sort of old-school “testimony,” rough-hewn and homely. Here it is, this time with photos and a few minor corrections.     A Montana farm boy that had two […]