13
Mar 2018
It has been a difficult week for the city of Nashville. The resignation of a mayor is fairly unprecedented. Our city certainly needs prayers and healing. Whenever a scandal dominates the news, it becomes convenient and easy to focus on the problems of others. But Lent is actually a time of self-reflection and personal growth, reminiscent of Jesus’ time in the wilderness. In our culture, many are simply not up for the challenge. Why? Personal growth is difficult and coming to terms with our own shortcomings and character flaws is always uncomfortable.......
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27
Feb 2018
Last Wednesday, a grieving father stood before President Trump at the White House and with anger and rage in his voice asked, “How many children have to be shot in this country before we do something? I’m here today because my daughter has no voice. She was murdered last week, taken from us, shot nine times.” That same night, Senator Marco Rubio walked into a heated town hall gathering in Sunrise, FL where he faced the same question from parents, family, and surviving students of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas......
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20
Feb 2018
Of the many hats that I am blessed to wear, I believe the most important one by far is being a husband and a father. Megan and I have three children: Montgomery (7), Clayton (6), and Wade (19 months). They are each unique in their own way. Somebody once said that when it comes to parenting, “the days are long but the years are fast!” I can certainly relate to that sentiment. Sometimes it is hard to believe that the time goes by as quickly as it does. I try to spend......
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06
Feb 2018
Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist and a professor at the University of Toronto, has just published a new book titled 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. I am only a few chapters in and it’s pretty fascinating. Peterson is an interesting guy. He taught mythology to lawyers, doctors, and business people, consulted for the UN Secretary General, helped his clinical clients manage depression, OCD, anxiety, and schizophrenia. He taught at Harvard before going to Toronto and has lectured extensively in North America and Canada. He also has a strong YouTube......
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02
Feb 2018
Popular Patheos blogger Benjamin Corley recently published a book titled “Unafraid: Moving Beyond Fear-Based Faith.” Corley grew up in an ultra-conservative, hell fire and brimstone tradition where sin, judgment, and the wrath of God were pivotal parts of the theology. Years later, he suffered a mid-life spiritual awakening. He asked himself, “Why would God seek to punish and torture his creation? Why are so many Christians taught that we are undeserving, inadequate, unloved, and damned?” It no longer made sense in his mind. He was over it, and he’s not alone. Many in our culture have had it......
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09
Jan 2018
“I feel like I’ve turned the corner.” That’s a common phrase. I think most of us have probably said it at some point in time. It means that we feel like things are going to get better. We’ve gotten over the hump. A rough season is behind us.You know what makes a literal mockery out of that statement? Climbing out of the Grand Canyon. You see, there are no elevators or escalators in the Grand Canyon and stairs only make cameo appearances. That’s an obvious statement, but you don’t truly appreciate the......
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02
Jan 2018
We have now turned the page on 2017 and what a year it has been! The New Year is an ideal time to reflect and to look ahead. What will we remember from last year? Trump’s Inauguration? The women’s march on Washington? Travel bans debated in the courts? Debates over the Dreamers? Political uprisings in Europe? The aggression of North Korea? The suicide bombing at a concert in Manchester? The removal of confederate monuments? The Charlottesville incident? The firing of James Comey? The ongoing FBI investigation? The surging stock market? The Las......
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05
Dec 2017
Our Christmas tree is decorated. It was my seven-year old Rose’s year to climb the ladder and place the gilt-winged angel on the top. Elise carefully unwrapped the santons I collected years ago in France and placed the nativity figures in the arch window. Charlie hung the six stockings and pulled out the Santa mugs for hot chocolate. Percy (4) and Finn (almost 2) have already managed to run out the batteries in the “Dancing Santa” (Thank the lord!). “Candycane,” the Mason family elf-on-the-shelf, has made his first appearance perched on the......
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28
Nov 2017
As we begin the transition from Thanksgiving to the Christmas Season and all of the hustle and bustle that the holidays bring, it occurs to me that there are two basic ways to approach life (and shades of each). The first is the way of fear and it could be called an “ontologically disappointed life.” With this approach, life is a burden, people always let you down, nothing is ever good enough, and life is unfair. This approach is grounded in cynicism, negativity, pessimism, and disappointment. Fear becomes the dominating emotion and......
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21
Nov 2017
At the end of December, Thom Schuyler will be retiring from his position here at Woodmont and moving to Jekyll Island, GA. It will be very hard to imagine Woodmont Christian Church without Thom around. He has been a leader in this congregation for many years, first as a lay leader and then as a dedicated member of our staff team. Thom was born and raised in Bethlehem, PA. He developed an affinity for music at a young age and clearly had a gift for writing songs. He says it was Old......
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