Ministering the Coming Word at Advent
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He sat across the table from me in defeat.
“Pastor,” he had written to me several weeks earlier in an email, “I appreciated your sermon today on prayer. But it was also difficult for me. Can we get together?”
I happily said yes. We arranged a time and place and met.
There at the restaurant he began to explain to me why the message was so difficult. “I’ve struggled with addiction since I was thirteen. I’ve come clean on it repeatedly. Confessed my sins and sought mercy. Done everything everyone has told me to do to get victory. I’m in church and support groups and therapy weekly…”
“Good job,” I said — though…
*Editorial Note: Liz Cooledge Jenkins first wrote for Missio Alliance earlier this year, a provocative piece entitled “I Don’t Want God To ‘Use’ Me.” Her perspective is fresh and sorely needed within communities of faith in 2023. When I heard…
Excerpted from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals,“Occasional Prayers,” p. 553.
Edited by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, & Enuma Okoro.
Claiborne, Shane, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro. 2010. Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan.…
*Editorial Note: Dr. Dennis Edwards is a long-time Leading Voice within Missio’s Writing Collective. He serves on our board, while championing a thousand other worthy initiatives. Just a few short weeks ago, his latest book, Humility Illuminated: The Biblical Path…
Excerpted from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals,“Occasional Prayers,” p. 553.
Edited by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, & Enuma Okoro.
Claiborne, Shane, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro. 2010. Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan.…