Why Is There So Much Nakedness in this Story? A Sermon on Genesis 3

This is a sermon I preached on Genesis 3:8-21 at Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in Minneapolis on June 10, 2018. The text follows the audio, below. Can we all just admit? This is a weird story. A frustrating story. A confusing story. And that makes it a very human story. And I’m not going to...

Rescued by Grace

This piece about my conversion to Christianity was initially published in Lutheran Forum, an independent Lutheran journal, in Fall 2017. I was born in Logan, Utah, in 1981, the oldest of five in a devout Mormon family. My childhood took place during a turbulent time in a Mormon history. Progressives were being silenced and excommunicated....

Reconsidering Resurrection: A Reflection on Paul’s Apocalyptic Expectations

In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul expresses a belief that Christ’s Second Coming is radically imminent—so imminent, in fact, that he fully expects to be among the living when Jesus returns. “Then we who are alive, who are left,” he says in verse 16, “will be caught up in the clouds together with [the risen dead]...