A church that doesn’t invite people or that stops inviting people is not a “true Bible church,” not Jesus’ church. From the first, Jesus promises that if we sign on with him, he will teach us, will teach us not correct doctrine or right behavior or the right opinions, but will teach us to “fish for people,” to catch them, to share in his work of drawing in all people to God.  

If you are listening for it, you can find Christian messages in the strangest places, even in the lyrics of country music songs. Consider these thoughtful, theological verses: “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers,” “Jesus, take the wheel,” and “God blessed Texas with his own hand.” As I said, deep theology…The lyric that most struck me recently when I heard it is a line from Brooks and Dunn’s ‘Red Dirt Road’: “Happiness on earth ain’t just for high achievers.”

God has shared an amazing gift with us—new life in Christ as part of his Church. This is at times a joy, and a challenge, but most of all a blessing. Why would we not want others to share it with us? Why wouldn’t we want them to find and be found by Christ in our midst? In this season after Epiphany, in which we celebrate the “appearings” of Christ among us, it is our joy to share Christ with others, to point to him, and invite others to meet Christ, to invite them to “come a

With Jesus’ baptism, God has involved himself in our sin, in our mess, and in our baptism we’ve gotten involved, been recruited into God’s work of cleaning that mess up. We’re in it together, God with us and us with God, as we work with God to bring about God’s plan to bring the world to right.

Stanley Hauerwas of Duke University once observed that the greatest enemy of the Gospel is not atheism, but sentimentality. Perhaps there's no time when we're more susceptible to this danger than at Christmas with the stories about the birth of Jesus. What parent hasn't gushed with pride watching their child play a shepherd in a bathrobe or an angel with a coat hanger halo? It's difficult to read words like "they wrapped him in swaddling clothes" and not melt into a puddle of