Theological Fragments

 Last year, we had to completely scrap our plans for our Good Friday Service at Turner Christian Church and develop something that could be done entirely online. The result of that pivot was a Good Friday Service that focuses on personal confession by observing the role of human sin in each stage of the Crucifixion story.  I was actually surprised at how east it was for me to identify all of the Seven Deadly Sins at play in the story. I have embedded the video of our Good Friday Service for you to watch, and pasted the text below. Feel free to adapt and use this liturgy. Hope it's helpful! Good Friday Confession Service Good evening, and welcome to Turner Christian Church’s online Good Friday Service. We are gathered today, across space and time, to meditate on the journey of Jesus Christ from Gethsemane up to the cross, and down to the tomb. In this story we see Jesus Christ confront the power of sin and destruction in the world—our sin, and our destructive acts. In order t...

  [The following confession was read during the January 10th worship service at Turner Christian Church, during our regular time of confession--which normally focuses on individual reflection and confession. The live recording can be found here. ] Confession today is going to look a little different. Normally we focus on confessing our individual sins and victories. However, there are several examples in scripture of what we call corporate repentance: moments when God’s people gather together and recognize that they have sinned in large, collective, systemic ways. These passages teach us that when God’s people sin on the world stage, none of us are innocent. None of us can stand apart and say we had nothing to do with it. The church is an interconnected body, and in times like these we all bear the guilt. The events in Washington DC this past week were shocking and heart-wrenching. There is footage of people cowering in the congressional chambers, praying for God to protect them. A...

Last week we focused on the story of Abraham and his exile in Canaan. We talked about God’s promise to provide him a child through his wife Sarah, and about how Abraham and Sarah put the plan in jeopardy by trying to have the child of promise through Sarah’s slavegirl, Hagar. We focused on the role this story played in Abraham’s story of faith. In the Bible, however, Hagar is more than just a side character in Abraham’s story. She has her own story that is surprising, compelling, and challenging in its own right. So today, in honor of Mother’s Day, and all the women who have been treated—or felt like—supporting characters in someone else’s story, we are going to tell the story of Hagar: a woman in exile who had an amazing encounter with God and responded in active, vibrant faith. I. Why was Hagar in Exile? ·          Hagar was a slave and a foreign outsider among God’s special people. (Genesis 16:1) Hagar enters our story as a side character...

Last week we looked at the story of Joseph, a man who was sent into exile by the evil actions of his brothers his master’s wife. We talked about how God used Joseph’s exile to prepare and empower him to accomplish God’s plan to protect his people. So far in this series, I have been focusing on what we can do during this time of exile—but there is another side of exile that we need to talk about: sometimes (especially now, for many people) being in exile means that we cannot do anything. How do we handle exile during those times when there is no clear way to move God’s plan forward in our own spheres of influence? That is the question we will address today, by focusing on the story of Abraham’s exile. Now, Abraham is not someone we traditionally associate with exile, so let’s begin by understanding the nature of Abraham’s exile. I.   Why was Abraham in exile? ·          God called Abraham to leave his home and go to a new land. (Genesis 1...