Church

I Am A Fearful Man (and i need to get over it) {pt2}

/ Paul Burkhart / 9 Comments

[Read Part 1 and Part 3 of this series]

And… intensity at work, lack of sleep, church home group beginnings, Fall TV premieres, a trip with the lady to meet the parents, and two weeks later, I find myself here, computer atop my lap, typing these words over a bowl of stove-top-made oatmeal. I’m ready to pick this blog post up again after more facebook, blog comments, and text messages than usual asking when the next post would be. This sets up a pressure under which I don’t work well, but it’s a pressure I feel is appropriate to bring up considering the content to follow.

In my last post, I unpacked a bit of my own story which has led me to often be perceived as an arrogant overly-sure man–and indeed I see this in myself often. But I went on to point out how this arrogance is not necessarily at its root sprung from pride or over-confidence, but rather a deep fear and insecurity that at the end of all things I wouldn’t be found pleasing to the God I know I love.

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I Am A Fearful Man (and i need to get over it) {pt1}

/ Paul Burkhart / 11 Comments

[Read Part 2 and Part 3 of this series]

Oh the perils of post-modernity.

There once was a time where I was arrogant in what I thought I knew. I know, I know, many of you are thinking “once”? Let me explain.

I grew up in the South; or at least (if you don’t believe Dallas is in the True South) the Bible Belt. I was raised in an atmosphere that choked with fundamentalism. What’s more, I was fully enveloped in this culture as a Southern Baptist, and all of the cultural retardation that accompanied it. Most everyone in my world was “religious”. Actors and “liberals” were the only ones that were “atheists”, and they were all in Hollywood, D.C., or Berekeley–far, far away. I lived my younger years not knowing even of the existence of other “denominations”. Everyone in Texas was either Catholic or Southern Baptist, and in Sunday School they taught me that Catholics believed in salvation by works and were therefore not going to heaven anyway. Only we Baptists were right. In short, I grew up with a sense that I was part of the cosmic “in” crowd: God’s One and Only Faithful.

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And Thus It Begins: liberti home meetings & my heart

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

For all those in Philly that either do attend liberti: center city, have attended, or are interested in getting involved: this week marks the beginning of our new season of home meetings. I don’t know why, but I am so excited about this particular round of meetings. Yes, I lead one, but more than that, I feel that the season in which the church currently finds itself is one where a lot of growth (both painful and joyful) is imminent; and I think that these Liberti Home Meetings will be a primary catalyst for this growth.  [Click here for a complete list and map of our groups if you are interested in checking any of them out.]

In the past year and some change, throughout my involvement at Liberti, home meetings have been a constant source of amazing discussion, deep personal analysis, and action mobilization. I really can’t commend these things enough. My deepest relationships, and even where I moved into the city, were all fruits borne from my time in my home meetings.

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Some of my dearest friends got engaged this weekend. And I have a tape.

/ Paul Burkhart / 5 Comments

Two of my favorite people–Jospeh Yasso and Tara Molthen–got engaged this past Friday.  It was amazing.  Joseph had planned this thing for a long time and it went off perfectly.  And, just as is the case with most all of our lives nowadays, it was all caught on tape.  Actually, like 5 or 6 of them.  And I have one.  As I was writing this post, I found Joseph’s “official” tape” on YouTube and thought that it offered some things that my video lacked.  My video gives the “crowd” perspective from outside the restaurant to when we enter.  His is good for the perspective form inside the restaurant from the beginning of the entire thing.  His is posted first after the break and mine is below it, followed by the lyrics of his song he wrote.  Like I said, it’s amazing.  One last note: so sorry for the crazy audio feedback at the end of my video.  It’s pretty unbearable, but worth it, I feel.  Enjoy.

Joseph and Tara: Congratulations.  I love you two, and can’t wait to watch you get married.
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on Babel, Language, & Identity (a liturgy)

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

[This was a liturgy I delivered at my church this past Sunday as we concluded our series “in the beginning”.  Here is the amazing message that followed this liturgy.]

Greeting and Preparation

Leader: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.

Hello, my name is Paul, and welcome to Liberti Church. Liberti Church is a group of people trying to figure out what it means to be a community of believers in Jesus Christ both in and for this city. This may be your first time here–you may have randomly wandered in here or a friend brought you; or, you may be a regular attender here. Either way, we hope you feel welcome to fully participate in this time and space set aside to worship our God.

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When Great Minds & Stubborn Hearts Collide: on Al Mohler & Karl Giberson

/ Paul Burkhart / 14 Comments

Ah, this is a tough one to write. As some on the blogo-rounds have been quick to jump on the coat tails of, Al Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Karl Giberson, the Vice-President of the BioLogos Foundation, have been in a bit of a tizzy for the past couple of months. Mohler is a very conservative Evangelical whom Time proclaimed as the most influential Evangelical intellectual in America of couple of years ago. Giberson is also a Baptist, but has devoted much of his time, writings, and energies to showing how Darwinian Evolution is not inherently antithetical to a Christian worldview. Mohler, as can be expected, disagrees. This little debate has reached a climax in the past couple of days. For a full account of what’s been written in this exchange, I have a full timeline at the bottom of this post.

Hopefully in the next few days I can actually lend some (hopefully) helpful thoughts on the actual argument taking place, but today I just wanted to step back and lament a little.

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An Amazingly Thoughtful Discussion on Gay Marriage

/ Paul Burkhart / 4 Comments

Thanks to David Sessions, the editor of Patrol Magazine for bringing this all to our attention.

Now, I have remained in the closet for much of this discussion (forgive the pun), though I have spoken of this in-person with others, with varying reactions. For a myriad of reasons, it’s generally wiser to controvert into a half-empty coffee cup or beer pint than it is to do so on the web. But nevertheless, this is a charged issue that demands response, both public and private, from those that have (hopefully) given it deep and communal thought, allowing both time and others to help refine and nuance one’s opinions. I hope I may be so bold as to include myself in those numbers.

Someday.

For now, I’m still figuring it out, and discussions like the one I want to bring to your attention today both clarify and confuse the issue for me.  I find myself agreeing with each article you will find below; a similar reaction Sessions has eloquently articulated in his Patrol article.  I appreciate his public candor and can easily relate.

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Somebody Redeem this NOW!

/ Paul Burkhart / 5 Comments

Monday I showed how someone could take some bad Christian culture and redeem it to truly honor God.  Well, thanks to Andrew Vogel, a good friend and former classmate, whose comment showed me another video that really needs to be redeemed, remixed, or just removed.  Here’s the video.  If anyone has any ideas, I’m all ears.  Big.  Floppy.  Ears.  Somebody get some GaGa in this thing.

HOW TO: redeem bad Christian culture

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

There will be very little commentary from me here.  I just want to show everyone a process of the Kingdom of God breaking through Christian culture to redeem it.  First, watch this. Please, watch the whole thing.  Whatever you do, do not stop this video before the 2-minute mark.  You might want to take notes.

Then, see how the “secular” culture (if there was ever such a thing) comments on this, care of Talk Soup:
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The Gospel & Hospitality (a liturgy)

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[This was a liturgy I delivered at my church a couple of months ago, while we were going through our series “Practice Resurrection”. You can hear the sermon delivered that Sunday here.]

Greeting and Preparation

Leader: Alleluia! Christ is risen.
People: The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Hi, my name Is Paul. Welcome to Liberti: South Philly. We’re a community of believers in Jesus Christ wrestling and struggling trying to learn what it looks like to live in the tensions and ambiguities of an ever-changing world; of a world whose systems too often attempt to isolate and pull each other apart. Maybe you’ve graced these pews many times before, maybe you’re still trying to get over the shock that you’re actually sitting in here in the first place. Either way, we want to welcome you today. We hope your time here is meaningful and that you feel the freedom and invitation to wrestle and struggle alongside us.

The aspect of Christian faith we will be exploring today is hospitality. The God of Christianity is not a distant god demanding things of us; putting ever-increasing weights upon our shoulders. Rather, he is a God that removes our burdens, shows us what a well-lived life looks like and invites us in. He invites us into the experience of His Self and His Works.

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Catholics Aren’t Crazy: The Eucharist & Economics (pt.1 of ?)

/ Paul Burkhart / 11 Comments

I haven’t written a post in this series in a while, but I’ve been reading William Cavanaugh’s amazing book Being Consumed: Economics & Christian Desire as a counter to Jack Cashill’s Popes & Bankers, which I just finished.  It’s pretty remarkable.  Every Christian–nay, every person–should read this book.

Cavanaugh is a Catholic and this influences his thought greatly and wonderfully.  I’ve only made it through the Introduction and I already feel like I’ve been taken for a ride, with my economic thought swirling.  Once I’m done I’ll surely be posting a review here for all of you to enjoy.  He has this amazing paragraph in the Introduction I wanted to share here with all of you:
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Of Liturgy, Communion, and Relationship [a liturgy]

/ Paul Burkhart / 5 Comments

[This weekend, I had the privilege of helping lead the prayers and liturgy at my church. I thought I would post my manuscript up for all to read and take part in as well. I hope this blesses you to read as it blessed me to write.]

Greeting and Preparation

Leader: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.

Hello, my name is Paul, and welcome to Liberti: South Philly. We are a community of people–people with struggles, doubts, addictions, and frustrations–who are still in the process of figuring out what it means to believe in this God we believe in, and relate to Him and others in a way that reflects that belief. This may be your first time here or your hundredth, but either way we want to welcome you all and we hope that your time here today is meaningful.

The part of the Christian faith we will be talking about today is that of community and relationships. Most likely all of us in here have our own sets of insecurities, uncertainties, and baggage concerning this topic. Our relationships seem to be the area that can frustrate us like no other; the area that it appears no amount of mere intellectual knowledge can change. It is often the source of our greatest joys, our deepest sorrows, and our most profound change.

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I’ve Moved to South Philly! (hence no blog posts)

/ Paul Burkhart / 3 Comments

Hey, this is one of those posts I have to put up every couple of months apologizing for not having updated things around here on the blog.  As anyone that reads this site knows, I don’t really do “personal” posts very often.  Sure, most every article is timely and has some sort of inspiration within my life, but the resultant product is still more “essay”-y and “article”-y.  This is just the way I am, and I’m fine with that.  But with the immanent demise of my “online magazine” (post on this forthcoming), I might have a place to put those “essays” and “articles” thereby reserving this space for “posts”: you know; quotes, links, quips, thoughts, witticisms, and the like, updated more than once a day.  But as I parentheticized earlier, all this will be talked about in the next week or so.  On to the personal stuff!

This past weekend I moved into my new place in South Philly.

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Wright, the Neo-Reformed, & Unity in the Church (If you read one thing all day, let it be this)

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

easterDon’t worry, the title is not referring to this very blog post you are reading right now.  It’s actually referring to this article at Christianity Today by Brett McCracken:

Wrightians & the Neo-Reformed: ‘All One in Christ Jesus – A dispatch from Together for the Gospel and Wheaton’s Theology Conference with N.T. Wright

The article compares and contrasts the general ethos of two very different conferences that occurred very close to the same time.  One conference was the Together for the Gospel Conference and Wheaton College’s Theology Conference with N.T. Wright.

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“If You Believe in Jesus, the Resurrection, & Evolution, You Are A Heretic” – Patrol Mag

/ Paul Burkhart / 6 Comments

photo from Wired Science

Well, my article for last week on Patrol took a little longer for me to submit it than usual so it only just got posted.  The article has to do with the recent situation involving Bruce Waltke, formerly of Reformed Theological Seminary.  The article is in response to a recent post by Rick Phillips of the site Reformation21, whose mission is “Encouraging biblical thinking, living, worship, ministry, and constructive cultural engagement.”  I believe the articles written by Phillips (and others) reacting to Waltke’s situation do not fall into any of those parameters set by that mission statement.  Here’s the link:

“If You Believe in Jesus, the Resurrection, & Evolution, You Are A Heretic”

Also, something that might be of interest to some, the article contains a very surprising and substantial list of names (and links to sources) of Christians throughout history whose view of Genesis either explicitly or implicitly allows for, encourages, or would have allowed for theistic creation by means of Darwinian evolution.  Check it.

You can see all of my past articles for Patrol here.