Lisa Harper's Back Porch Theology

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology, we’re going to honestly explore how Christians can do better caring about and caring for the precious people who are leaving mainstream churches. It’s a given that some are walking away from communities of faith for sinful reasons but what about the saints who are leaving our sanctuaries because they’ve been deeply betrayed by a spiritual leader or they simply can’t reconcile the Jesus of Scripture – who hugged lepers, welcomed outliers, and compassionately advocated for the poor - with the sociology of the affluent, seemingly inwardly focused congregation they were raised in. Pastor and modern theologian, Dr. A.J. Swoboda made this wise and gracious observation about some who are leaving the church: they have tasted Jesus, and rigid religion has proven to be a poor substitute. Before we go any further, I want to state what I hope is blatantly obvious here at Back Porch Theology and that is: we are passionately, unashamedly, enthusiastically PRO-CHURCH. Dr. Howard pastors a local church in Dillon, CO and Allison and I are life-long church girls. All three of us have spent a good chunk of our lives serving on church staffs or parachurch ministries. We wholeheartedly believe the Christian church is one of the main means of grace our Creator Redeemer uses to accomplish His kingdom purposes. We also believe the Bible is crystal clear regarding how important it is for God’s people to gather on a regular basis as a community of faith for centralized worship, corporate prayer, biblical instruction, water baptism, relational encouragement, and to celebrate the sacrament of communion. But, and this is a big but, we also think Christ-followers can do a much better job of caring for and listening to the men, women and teenagers who are leaving our churches for reasons that should give us pause – mainly, that sometimes our corporate gatherings of faith no longer resemble the Savior we’re singing about or the wholistically redemptive message of the Bible we profess to base our belief system on. Not everyone who walks away from a local church is an angry rebel or a selfish prodigal or a divisive opponent, much less a dangerous heretic. Some sheep are hurt and scared and lonely and they thought they’d get closer to the Good Shepherd if they joined our herd, but unfortunately their wounds have gotten worse, as a result of hanging out with us and they don’t feel like they have any other option except to limp away to a less painful pasture. If someone you love has walked away from church disappointed, disillusioned, and is quite possibly in a season of deconstruction we believe today’s conversation can help you maintain a genuine relationship with them as they sort out what they believe to be true about God, even if they pull away from church for the time being. And based on the some of the excruciatingly honest emails we’ve received here at BPT, we understand that some of you - who purely by the grace of God trust our motley crew enough to hang out on the proverbial porch with us - are nursing fresh wounds from a bad church experience. Please know that you’re especially weighty on our hearts today. We’ve prayed that Holy Spirit will use this conversation to bring you a tangible sense of His comfort. That it will serve to remind you that while Christ followers are notably flawed, Jesus – our incarnate Savior - was without sin, not a man that He could lie or change His mind, according to the Old Testament book of Numbers. Yes, human love is conditional, but God’s love is unconditional and immutable – it doesn’t change. He is not fickle He is perfectly...

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology Alli and I have the pure joy of asking Dr. Howard – whose PhD is rooted in the New Testament so he’s a smarty-McTarty when it comes to Pauline theology - all kinds of questions about the more complex points and passages the book of Romans. Questions like, How can we reconcile Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith in Romans 3-4 with his view on the Law and good works in chapters 2 and 7? How does Paul’s concept of predestination and election in chapter 8 align with the broader themes of free will and human responsibility in this epistle? How can we explain – better yet model - Paul’s teaching that hope won’t disappoint with our friends, family, co-workers and neighbors who’ve all but lost theirs because of tragedy, hardship, loss, or abuse? And How can we hang onto the joy Paul preaches about while simultaneously leaning into the suffering he frames as part of our faith? One of the things we love most about Dr. Howard is that he delights in making profound theological concepts understandable to people who don’t have a bunch of academic degrees like him and he does that with contagious joy today. So please grab your favorite beverage, a yummy snack and your Bible – unless of course you’re practicing a routine with flaming batons – and come hang out on the porch with us. We’re really glad you’re here! 

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On today's special episode of Back Porch Theology, I'm hanging out with my dear friend Christine Caine. You'll love listening to her because she has this Australian accent. I always tease her and say she could read the phone book and I'd rededicate my life to Christ. But Chris and I are focusing on Advent, the marvel and the miracle of Advent.You know, for more than a thousand years, Advent has been this really special time that's been set apart in the church calendar, which invites us to pause, to prepare, and to anticipate the arrival of our long awaited Messiah, King Jesus. The season of Advent gives us the time and the opportunity to, to prayerfully reflect on the wonder of Christ's glorious entrance into the world. It's a call to attentiveness. It's an opportunity to prepare the way for the Lord that begins in our own hearts. It's this time when the air around us almost feels thick with the expectation of the dawn of a new day. So I think you're going to love today's podcast. I think it'll help get your heart.

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re having the biblical equivalent of Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest that takes place on Coney Island every July Fourth. Because while we won’t be trying to gobble 62 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes like world champion Joey Chestnut did last summer, we are going to attempt to digest some of the major doctrinal themes found in the book of Romans in one single podcast! Speaking of Christian doctrine, Martin Luther - widely known as one of the key leaders of the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s – was a dutiful priest who almost drove himself crazy trying to live a life holy enough to please God. He spent hours in prayer every day, he fasted for so long and so often that it caused severe intestinal problems, and he even practiced self-harm, thinking that the discomfort and pain that resulted from intentionally wounding himself was a necessary penance for his sin. It wasn’t until he taught on the book of Romans that the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to divine grace – to the unmerited favor of Jesus Christ – and that’s what dramatically changed his personal life and gave rise to the Protestant church. Luther described Romans as, “The gate to paradise” because it’s what led him from practicing rote religion to experiencing a real relationship with our Creator Redeemer. We hope today’s conversation opens the gate for some of you to walk into a much closer relationship with Jesus, too. So please grab your favorite beverage a snack and a Bible – if you have one – and come prop your feet up on the porch with us.

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re going to mess with your beautiful minds just a wee bit by flipping to the end of the book of Romans before reading the beginning. But we’re not just messing with y’all to exasperate you like my nephew John Michael loves to do when he teases Missy. I promise there’s a redemptive method to our madness! We’re going to read Romans in reverse because if you don’t understand what Paul’s preaching toward the end of this theologically dense epistle, then the beginning and middle of the letter lose some of their doctrinal oomph. Dr. Scot McKnight, who’s a renowned New Testament scholar, seminary professor, prolific author and who purely by the amazing grace of God has become a Kerygma regular and a friend to Alli, Dr. Howard and me says this about reading Romans in reverse: One quick read of Romans 14-16 reveals the pastoral context of this letter, and no reading of Romans 1-11 that ignores 14-16 will catch the Pauline drift of why he is writing. In other words, our tendency to crush out on chapters 4-8 of Romans – what with all of its low-hanging theological fruit – while ignoring the latter part of Paul’s preeminent epistle is akin to eating the entire basket of tortilla chips before the hot queso gets to the table and then having nothing to dunk in that glorious goo…we’re missing out on the best part! So please grab your favorite beverage and your Bible – unless of course, you’ve got both hands halfway up a gourd in an attempt to DYI Fall centerpieces for your niece’s low budget wedding – and come hang out on the porch with Alli, Dr. Howard and me. We’re as happy as three hungry mice trapped in a cheese factory that we get to hang out with you today. And I apologize for the multiple cheese references but once I hear the word queso my dairy obsession tends to take over!

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Apostle Paul’s letter to the fledgling Christian church in Rome - which he wrote during the second half of the First Century - has often been hailed as the hub of Christian theology because in it he establishes the foundational walls of biblical orthodoxy. In fact, all you have to do is read the statement of faith listed on a few of your favorite Christian church or ministry websites to discover that the majority of our doctrinal beliefs as Christ followers have been mined from this New Testament treasure trove called the Book of Romans. However, Romans is broader and more nuanced than just a brilliant treatise on humanity’s need for salvation and justification, so we’re kicking off this rollicking adventure through Romans by pulling up on the proverbial nose of the plane for a 30,000-foot view to better understand the historical and sociological context of this profound epistle. So please grab a pumpkin cream cold brew – is it just me, or are coffee shops pulling out the pumpkin drinks earlier now? If memory serves me correctly, those fancy pumpkin flavored coffees didn’t use to debut until September so the whole gourd theme made sense in light of the Fall season, but now they start advertising pumpkin-juiced-java-lattes in July when the back of my thighs are still sticking to my hot car seat and my hair looks like Beetlejuice because of the humidity and it just feels wrong. If we’ve got any Back Porchers who are big dogs in the coffee industry, will you please tell the powers that be to push the pumpkin campaign back a few weeks, y’all – at least until projectile perspiration season is over? Well anyway, regardless of whether it’s squash infused or not, please grab your favorite cuppa Joe or tea, your Bible and a notebook because our excursion through Romans for the next several weeks is going to be chock full of so much good stuff it’ll be hard to hang onto without jotting a few notes! Then pull up your chair and join Alli, Dr. Howard and me on the porch – I can’t overstate how glad we are that you’ve chosen to hang with us today.

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Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is part travelogue, part exegesis, part confessional, and part pinky swear because while we were visiting Ephesus on our trip tracing the missionary journeys of Apostle Paul this summer, I couldn’t help thinking about the Ephesians’ sad, downward spiritual trajectory recorded by John in Revelation chapter two when he describes those early Christians as “doing all the right things outwardly yet losing their first love.” Theologian A.W. Tozer said it well, albeit soberly, when he observed, “For millions of Christians, God is no more real than He is to non-Christians. They go through life trying to love an ideal and be loyal to a mere principle.” As our tour group walked along the rocky paths of those ancient ruins where Paul once preached and Timothy planted a church and John discipled new believers while keeping Mary, the mother of Jesus, company in her latter years, we found ourselves pondering what went wrong. What caused that group of once devoted Christ followers to lose their zeal and exchange a vibrant personal relationship with Jesus for rote religiosity? In much the same way a physical autopsy allows physicians and scientists to gain invaluable data that can lead to new, life-saving medicines and procedures, a spiritual post-mortem exam of how the church at Ephesus lost their first love can provide invaluable data for those of us who are committed to keep our love relationship with Jesus healthy and intimate. There will inevitably be both difficult and dry seasons on the Christian journey, but goodness gracious, I never want to be rightly accused as someone whose love for Jesus has faded and I’m sure you don’t either. So please grab your favorite beverage and a sharable snack – unless of course it’s kale chips, which I will happily abstain from – and pull your chair up on the porch with Alli, Dr. Howard, and me. Today’s going to be a good one, y’all.