Tag: faith

The Connected Communion of Saints

Don Shrumm

Preaching through the Apostles’ Creed this summer at Genesis has been a fantastic learning experience. An exercise akin to preaching from the lectionary, it keeps us preachers a little more disciplined. We can’t just leap to favorite texts or themes and instead have to deal with material that can feel outdated and irrelevant. So, how to make it matter? Helping a great deal in this roots exercise has been my congregation who have become accustomed not only to answering questions and joining the dialogue during the sermon, they take active part…

Reclaiming and Beautifying Islam

Don Shrumm

…”we embrace a pluralistic interpretation of Islam, rejecting all forms of oppression and abuses…” The Gatestone Institute is what you have been looking for. It is so very easy, and understandable, to become utterly cynical about religion. Given the abuses in the name of Allah prevalent in the news over the past months it is easy to become very suspicious of Islam. I have heard many folks wondering aloud why Muslims don’t speak out to denounce the inhumanities of ISIS, the kidnappings by Boko Haram, the killing of Christians in…

“The 12” Utterly Ascends

Don Shrumm

Critic Jon Landau in 1974 upon seeing a certain New Jersey singer/songwriter for the first time: “I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” This past Sunday I was at the small Stage Theater at the Center for the Performing Arts here in Denver where a world premiere was taking place. I saw Christian Rock Musical future, and its name is “The 12” It has been a generation since Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar brought the Good News to Broadway,

Shrewd for Christ’s Sake

Don Shrumm

Let me tell you a peculiar story of Jesus, that very few long to hear. It might be my favorite of all. It’s called the parable of “The Dishonest Manager” and it’s found in Luke 16:1-9. Look in your version, some anxious translators call him “shrewd” for propriety’s sake; seems a little softer. Many claim the story continues through verse 13, but it doesn’t. This is just scrambling to try to lessen the blow by including other, more conventional (but unrelated) teachings on money. It should stand alone.

Israel: Re-Thinking Our Un-Thoughtful Support

Don Shrumm

President Obama said an astonishing thing last week: that we need to “reconsider” our support of Israel given our commitment to peace in the region and protecting the human rights of all; non-Jewish Palestinians included.  His comment rightly made news and wrongly brought about criticism from the right-wing here. It’s the most constructive thing an American president has said about the never-ending conflict in years.