Author: Michelle Van Loon
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Reflections on The Cost of Discipleship – Chapter 3
I was gossiping with a friend, but if I called it “processing” and “debriefing”, then it couldn’t be considered gossip, right? It takes a certain kind of moral gymnastics to pretzel blatant sin into a perfectly reasonable and completely justifiable act of self-care. I could say I’m an Olympic-level gymnast in this regard, but I…
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November newsletter
Shalom, friend! During the Passover Seder, there is a section of the service called the Four Questions that launches the recounting of the story of God’s deliverance of the Hebrew people from slavery. The first question is “Why is this night different from all other nights?” There will come a day when we may ask,…
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Reflections on The Cost of Discipleship – Chapter 2
Something tells me Dietrich Bonhoeffer wouldn’t have been a fan of the Four Spiritual Laws tract. More than 2.5 billion of these tracts have been printed and disseminated over the last few decades. The little booklet sketches four core talking points about the person and work of Jesus (God loves you and has a wonderful…
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Reflections on The Cost of Discipleship – Chapter 1
Self-help pep talks instead of sermons in church. Spiritual leaders intoxicated by access to power. Marrying nationalism with an edited form of Christianity. This was the world in which dissident German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived during the 1930’s and 40’s. He was among those who broke away from the deeply compromised national Lutheran Church…
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Review: A Church Called Tov
Church culture matters. As we live in our culture and also into our culture, our culture begins to live in and into us. A good culture will shape us toward goodness; a toxic culture will shape us toward evil. Yes, we can resist and change the culture of a church, but resisting, at times, is…
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Making Change: Navigating Life’s Challenging Transitions
When unexpected challenges upend the good plans we’ve made for our lives, how can we begin to respond in faith? This five-day devotional offers a thoughtful, compassionate exploration of the subject of how we can take first steps in processing those losses with honesty and courage. Click here to read through this free resource or…