Spirituality a la James Townsend

Ink Church is an oddity, at best. It’s called a “church.” Yet, the group that meets under the name at Books-A-Million every Thursday is the very antithesis of the kind of unified thought one would expect to find at a typical “church.” I see (as much as one who does not claim too much of a belief in the prophetic or supernatural can claim to “see”) pretty good things in store for Ink Church, although I constantly wonder these days what my place in such a group, whose central claims and focuses are the teachings and life of Jesus, is. I’m not much interested in Jesus, these days. But I still show up. And the folks there insist that this is okay. So I’m taking them at their word.

The Wrong Question

by Marcus Gibbs I used to applaud myself on how open I was. I loved the odd, strange, and social outcasts. Perhaps I was identifying with people like myself, but I thought I was some sort of evolved Christian with special prophetic insights. Maybe I was; because I knew something still wasn’t right with this [...]

Why Do I Follow Jesus?

by James Townsend writing for The Human Condition I reject the virgin birth, sinless life, divinity, and physical resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. And that’s just a short list of the traditional Christian doctrines that I don’t buy into.There are a lot of open-minded, gracious people out there who consider themselves Christians who are not [...]

Creed of Negatives: Jesus

This is the 3rd installment in the series: A Creed of Negatives Creed of Negatives: Jesus by James Townsend 3. I don’t believe that Jesus was God, or uniquely a son of God. I don’t believe Jesus is God. I don’t believe in the Trinity. I believe in one God, about Whom we can’t be certain of [...]

Creed of Negatives: God Still Speaks

Part 2 in the series: A Creed of Negatives Creed of Negatives: God Still Speaks by James Townsend 2. I don’t really think that God actively communicates with us all that much. This is one of the most ambiguous of my Creed of Negatives.  It’s also one of the hardest for me to articulate. What [...]

Creed of Negatives: The Bible

Last week, I posted A Creed of Negatives, by friend and writer, James Townsend. He is now posting a play-by-play explanation to each creed. Since the post was such a hit here and on my Facebook page, I figured I would continue the series! Would love your thoughts on this. Cheers! Creed of Negatives: The [...]

My Reconstruction

Last month, a bunch of folks got together at a conference called transFORM: East Coast Gathering. Since then, I’ve had a fairly steady stream of calls, emails, and messages from people. I could say a lot about the things we’ve discussed, but the bottom line is: This conference messed up a lot of people. Not [...]

A Creed of Negatives

So, I was at Ink last night talking with a friend of mine. I asked him how he had been and what was new. He said everything is new. Job. Life. Faith. We talked a little about the job and life and then it turned to faith. He said he had written a blog about where he [...]

Mourning on Bad Friday

So on this Bad Friday, may we be present in the places we are. May we embrace the pain in our lives. May we recognize and name the losses we’ve endured, but never properly dealt with. May we grieve them, lament them, and even mourn them. And then may we surrender them to God and allow a grace that covers all and a peace that surpasses all, envelop us and keep us.