Unpacking Ideas

I do not begrudge Paul Ryan his views about the role of government, or his right to privately pursue self-interested gains. I do wonder, though, if his appetite for the pursuit of self-interest is a contradiction of his oath to support the “general welfare” of the United States? Voters in Wisconsin might want to consider this.

As if not knowing how the parade ends, the people along that roadway were lifted “on a tide of hope and joy.” And so Coffin asks, “knowing what we know today, can we still join the parade?”

There are moderate Jews, and violent extremist Jews. There are moderate Muslims, and violent extremist Muslims. There are moderate Christians, and violent extremist Christians.

Counting is easy. But are we counting what is good? If we seriously believe will accomplish our mission if, and only if, we transform the world, then let’s measure transformation, not size. Let’s count transformation, because what gets measured gets done.

Have we become satisfied that getting folks into a worship service is enough? Let me ask a more annoying question: Has the American Church been seduced by the pleasure of our worship?

We have tinkered with this question before. We could say that bigger is more effective. After all, bigger means more people, and more people in church must be a good thing, right? It depends.

We love growth. We love more. We love big. In church, we especially love more and big. But is more and bigger always good if it means the Christ we end up following is not the Christ of the Gospels?

What’s wrong with flourishing opinions? A flourish of opinions would be fine if we’re talking about real opinions. Too often, however, my opinion is really not an opinion at all but an assertion — as if fact.