Loved Extravagantly:What DID Jesus DO?
By: Kristen Neighbarger Published on: 12/06/2024The post narrates a hospital visit that leads to a surprise driving restriction for the narrator's dad. The focus then shifts to an unwelcome church experience, where a sermon evokes anger and sadness due to its judgmental nature. The author reflects on the behavior of Pharisees and emphasizes the need for expressing Christ's love to all, regardless of societal norms and expectations.
Loved the Outcasts: What DID Jesus DO?
By: Kristen Neighbarger Published on: 20/03/2024In a tiny town, a strip club and a church engaged in a feud, leading the members of another church to show love and support to the employees of the strip club. This act mirrors Jesus' acceptance of outcasts, challenging us to extend love and build relationships with those marginalized in our communities.
What's Love Got to do with It? Fruit of the Spirit
By: Kristen Neighbarger Published on: 12/07/2023Back in the day when I was a practicing Pharisee (even though I didn’t realize it), one of the things I used to hear Sunday-morning Theologians argue over was whether or not there were fruits of the spirit (plural) or one fruit of the spirit (singular) that encompassed all of these qualities. Oh, and one of my other favorite arguments about this topic was whether or not you had to cultivate one of these qualities before you could move on to the next quality. For example, you had to master love before you could ever have joy, and you had to master both love and joy before you could have peace…you get the idea. This is real, folks. These were actual sermons and arguments. Honestly, I think Paul was probably banging his head against a wall in heaven and wishing he could pen some letters to the church over this chaos. So, here’s the thing–you can read different commentaries and translations of the bible that will tell you different things about how to interpret this section of scripture, just like you can with so many other scriptures and books of the bible. At the end of the day, though, I think we have to take a step back and look at Paul’s big picture or we miss his entire point.
Love Better: Loving My Enemies
Unfortunately, God didn’t really give us the option to opt out of loving our enemies. Throughout scripture, we are met with reminder after reminder that we are to love our enemies. Within these scriptures, we even get a pretty clear picture of how we are supposed to love them.
