Posts by T. C. Moore (Page 15)
A Guide for Lent
Lent is the forty-day season of reflection and preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus, which are commemorated on Good Friday (April 19th) and Easter Sunday (April 21st). It is a time of repentance, of considering Christ’s sufferings and rethinking how we are all called to take up our crosses. During this time many Christians fast, which means to abstain from food or some other pleasure. Some Christians integrate something new into their lives like visiting the sick, the…
Three Suggestions for Election Season Soul Care
Election seasons in the twenty-first century have become increasingly fraught times for Americans who profess to be disciples of Jesus. American partisan politics has gotten more and more polarizing and it’s difficult for Christians to find where they belong. It’s very tempting for Christians to become members of partisan political groups and adopt unswerving loyalty to their platform and ideas. The more “us” against “them” the rhetoric ratchets up, the more pressure is felt to choose sides and to grow…
“Kingdom Hybridity” (Ephesians 2.11-22)
In the second half of chapter 2, Paul teaches that the cross of Jesus does more than just reconcile people to God, it also reconciles people groups to one another. Namely, Jesus’s life of self-sacrificial love shows us the way to peace and tears down the divisions between people of different cultures. The Way of Jesus creates an entirely new kind of human community. But, multiethnic churches might fall into the trap of thinking “multiculturalism” is what this text prescribes.…
“Salvation by Allegiance Alone” (Ephesians 2.1-10)
We bring all of our selves to everything we interpret, including assumptions we have based on the influence of the cultures around us. When we come to this week’s text, Ephesians 2.1-10, many of us have been influenced by Modern, Western culture, which has conditioned us to understand the concept of “faith” as opposed to “works”. This is because of the view developed since the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth-century. But, we want to understand faith in Christ as it…
“Finding Identity in Jesus” (Ephesians 1.3-14)
Today in the United States, many people are experiencing an identity crisis. The labels and categories that used to provide a sense of security and purpose no longer do. To make matters worse, identity has become highly divisive. Race, culture, ethnicity, gender, orientation, partisan politics, and faith are just a few of the areas where battle lines have been drawn. Still, many are looking for something solid, true, and real—an identity in which they can be rooted. In the first…