Rev Chris Roth

I spoke about abortion and the unborn in recent posts so I thought I should probably be clear on my theology of sex just to give it all a context.               When people found out that I was in seminary a common topic they would bring up for discussion was Dan Brown’s novel “The DaVinci Code”. They would look at me with scandal in their eyes and ask me about what I thought of Jesus being married.             One of the contradictions in the book was that it was somewhat based around a 12 th century Gnostic group in France sometimes called the Cathars. Gnosticism was a Heresy that has been with us for a long time. One of the main points of Gnosticism is that they deny the goodness of creation. In Gnosticism an evil god created the world, and it was a better and more pure God that came to rescue us from this evil physical material world. The Gnostics believed t...

Okay, so I know this is a really controversial topic, but think it is one that needs to be discussed more. I think it is discussed by people who already agree with each other, but not among those who disagree with each other. And when it is discussed in mixed company, it is rarely discussed helpfully. I think it’s often angry people not listening to each other, rather than people listening to each other and willing to be convinced.  I think it is a discussion worth having for my generation in particular because in the world I grew up in it felt like everyone already made their decision and it was too controversial to talk about, so my generation wasn’t really given space to have the discussion that happened in the 70's. I don’t remember discussing it as a part of a social studies class, for example. I also used the word "unborn" in a recent post and I felt the need to unpack why I used that word in the context of "the vulnerable".   Here's my position...

Matthew 2:13-23             There's a little known Christmas story that I would like to share with you. It is from Revelationchapter 12 .                  1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled ...

Imagine two characters in a book. They have their own world. They have their own story. In the midst of their story one character turns to the other and says, “Jenny, do you think we might be characters in a book”. To which Jenny responds, “I think you have too much time on your hands. I’m not letting you watch the Matrix anymore”. And John replies, “No, really. What if all this is a story created by someone else”.  … If the author wanted to let them know that they were indeed characters in a book, what would this author do? … Perhaps the author would leave clues throughout the story that would lead them to ask such questions. …. But, what if the author wanted more than just for them to ask questions? What if the author wanted them to really know her, not just question reality and entertain the possibility that they are characters in a story? … If the author wanted to introduce herself she wouldn’t speak at the pages of the book. She wouldn’t nestle herself up next to t...

How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Extended Ending (just a silly thing I wrote for our Nativity play) Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, was singing! Without any presents at all! He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME! Somehow or other, it came just the same! And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so? It came without ribbons! It came without tags! “It came without packages, boxes or bags!” And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. “Maybe Christmas…. Perhaps … means a little bit more!”  And what happened then…? Well… in Who-ville they say That the Grinch’s small heart Grew three sizes that day! And the minute his heart didn’t feel quite so tight, He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light And he b...