Barry finishes up the series on forgiveness and repentance, keeping in mind that knowing the destination is forgiveness doesn’t make the journey simple. This episode focuses on how the offended and community deal with offenders, pointing out that mercy does not have to mean enabling.         Scriptures: Psalm 119:165 Matt 7:1 1 […]

Barry continues our series about repentance and forgiveness, providing a few examples from Scripture. These examples help us describe the differences between regret, remorse, restitution, repentance, and resignation for violator, violated, judges, society, and God.       Scriptures: Matt 27:3-5 Psalm 51:3-4 Luke 19:1-10, 3:7-14   Article: “The Southern Baptist Horror” (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/southern-baptist-evangelical-allegations-cover-up/629954/)

Barry begins a conversation about the complexities of repentance and forgiveness and reminds us that we need enough humility to acknowledge that our responses won’t be perfect, but enough faith that we can make a difference as we go about the business of both.       Scripture: Exodus 22:1-4

Barry reminds us that while we, as believers, are (hopefully) longing, praying, and yearning for what has not yet arrived in the world, God’s faithfulness has already been at work to bring about our redemption. This was true of his first advent as a babe and will be true of his second as King.   […]

Barry continues the conversation about how to make sure our faith matures but doesn’t become stale. He reminds us that our ultimate goal is not to have a good relationship with faith, but with the God of our faith that is making us into his image through the help of his Spirit and our brothers […]

Barry talks about the process of and barriers to the maturation of our faith. We want it to be fresh, but not always novel, stable, but certainly not stagnant. When thinking of our spiritual past, we don’t need the same things we needed then, but we do need some of the things we found then. […]

The journey of faith in Psalm 41 begins with belonging, moves through knowledge of self and God, and ends in mercy. Our God walked this path first and now we have the chance to see people as more than what they can do for us.     Scriptures: Psalm 41 Lev 19:1-17 James 2:1-9 John […]

Many of us have traditions we maintain over Thanksgiving such as thanking God for those around our table or thanking him for something good that has happened to us over the last year. However, Barry throws a wrench in the thankful works, when he suggests that to the extent that our thanks is occasional, it […]

Barry walks us through five excellent poems about love, sorrow, and sacrifice. In doing so, he reminds us that good poetry not only reveals something about the universe, but also something significant about ourselves.       Poems: “Marvel No More” and “Description of the Contrarious Passions in a Lover” by Sir Thomas Wyatt, “Sonnet […]

Barry talks about the many influences on the development of beliefs in an individual, from genetics and environment to an existentialist’s will. However, most importantly, he points to the reason it’s worth wrestling to shape our beliefs: so that Christians attain to the unity and knowledge that leads to the stature of the fullness of […]