Jesus at 2AM - A Humorous, Intelligent Look at the Bible, Church History & the Life of Faith

This episode is particularly personal to me. "Joy" is not a primary Winslow trait. Hard work, honesty, responsibility, service to others…these are virtues I know well. And to the degree that the Bible calls Christians to "rejoice," I did my best to be optimistic for Jesus (whatever that means). Often what it really meant was […]

Does God know I exist? Does he know the circumstances of my life? Does he hear me when I pray? Does he care??? Such questions go back to the dawn of time and for most of human history, the answer has been: no. The gods may exist, but their concern for humans was minimal! Mostly […]

What has Nietzsche to do with Christmas? And what has either to do with rock bands, HIV and clean water? In a word: hope. Having just described generosity as one of the highest virtues of the church, one of the surest signs that a community is following Jesus, we turn now to the content of […]

One of the surest signs an individual or community is following the Jesus way (of life) is that they possesses a thorough-going spirit of generosity. For them, it truly is better to give than to receive as they have every confidence that they will receive again. Gifts are not to be clutched and hidden, but freely shared, […]

What sort of community should grow out of the biblical story? A grateful one. In this episode we explore the concept of hesed – the Hebrew word usually translated as "steadfast love." It is used throughout the Bible to describe the fundamental nature of God and is meant to explain why God is so committed to the work of […]

For centuries, "Kingdom work" was synonymous with the stuff pastors do – preaching, sacraments, general church-running… This was the "eternal" work done for God, and the province of a small minority of God's people who were "ordained" to the role. "Secular" work was what one did for money, not an equally important embodiment of Jesus's ministry of […]

Conflict is the last thing anyone wants from their "church experience." After all, we go to church to feel better, to get a little uplift to face the week, right? It's the one place where we don't have to deal with the typical human foibles of self-interest, pettiness, passive-aggression…right? I mean, sure, we may have […]

Churches obsess about a lot of things. Some things important (e.g., budgets and buildings and staff). Most…not so much (from the minutiae of worship to revamping the website one more time). And none of these the stuff that stands at the center of the biblical story. So what should a church obsess about??? What should […]

The true test of a theology is not questions is answers but the community it creates. Having just spent more than a year developing an understanding of the biblical narrative – centered on the conviction that God is love – we now turn our attention to "us," to the conscious shaping of our life […]

At last we come to the end of the biblical journey: all creation made new! And the completion of the project of salvation is symbolized by the return of the "tree of life," indeed a near forest of them now lining the center of the city. (Remember it was access to the tree of life […]