Church — Brewing Theology with Teer Hardy

Back to School

God is with you in math or science class. God is with you during gym class and recess. God is with you on the bus or in the car.

Children, Church, CoronablogTeer HardyAugust 29, 2021Back to School, Blessing, Mount, Children's MessageComment

Finding the Old Normal

The routine of the church is pretty simple.

Blogging, Church, CoronablogTeer HardyMarch 18, 2020coronavirus, Coronablog, Devotional, Worship, ChurchComment

Unity in Distance

In Baptism, whether you were sprinkled, dunked, poured, or dipped, we are one.

Baptism, Church, Devotional, CoronablogTeer HardyMarch 17, 2020coronavirus, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Acts 2, Galatians 3, Baptism, Community, Unity, DevotionalComment

Buzzing Questions and Unknowns

I have two degrees - a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theological Studies, focusing on missional theology. Neither of those fields has prepared me for the buzzing this week.

Blogging, Church, Leadership, CoronablogTeer HardyMarch 12, 2020coronavirus, blog, churchComment

There's No Debating It

For as long as I can remember, all the way back to Jed Barlet, politicians I have been proclaiming doom if they are not elected.

Loving | Empowered

As the confirmands receive the sign of the cross on their foreheads and the baptismal waters flow off of your head Milana, we as a community will pray that the Holy Spirit take up residence inside you, inside the confirmands, moving, prodding, and leading you all to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

Advent Begins Today

We have not acted and now we find ourselves beginning to retreat back into the ordinary time of the world. We assume the ordinariness of the summer life of the church gives way to kick-offs in the fall but Advent begins today! The Hope and Promise of the Incarnation push the ordinary of the world to the side as the Hope and Promise of Christ’s justice and mercy take centerstage.

Advent, Blogging, ChurchTeer HardyMay 31, 2019Feast Day, Advent, Mary, Virgini, Virgin, Fleming RutledgeComment

Closed Hearts, Closed Minds, Closed Doors.

The United Methodist church has been home for me for almost half of my life, all of my adult life. I’ve never felt like an outcast or an outsider. I’ve been welcomed into stranger’s homes because of our commonality of being a United Methodist. I’ve baptized our children in the United Methodist church. I’ve debated theology and polity, I’ve asked hard questions, and every single time it’s been welcomed with open minds and thoughtful consideration.

Church, GC2019, FamilyAllison HardyMarch 1, 2019GC2019, Allison Hardy, Love, Church, UMC, inclusion, LGBTQ Inclusion Comments

We Have Stopped Talking About Sex

Let’s be clear, today’s vote is not about sexuality.

GC2019, ChurchTeer HardyFebruary 26, 2019GC2019, Human Sexuality, Westboro Baptist Church, UMC Comment

All We Need is Love

The saints of the past and us today have flaws. They, we, fell short of what Christ describes as the greatest of the things we are supposed to do. But in Christ loving us as himself, the saints and each of us are made righteous. What once was thought to separate us from the love of G-d is no more and Christ invites us to join him and the saints around His table. Clothed in the righteousness of Christ through our Baptism into His life, death, and resurrection, and not our own self-righteousness, we are declared holy. The greatest commandments, loving “the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” and loving your neighbor is a little less daunting knowing that before we ever attempt to fulfill it, Christ first loved us. Christ fulfilled it for us.

Church, Mount Olivet UMC, SermonTeer HardyNovember 4, 2018Love, All Saints Sunday, All Saints, Mark 12:24-38, Year B, Teer Hardy, Sermon, Mount Olivet, PreachingComment

Violence as a Form of Justice - Informing Understanding, Shaping Judgment, and Guiding Behavior - Reason and Experience

The death penalty is a primitive form of justice, even within the Judeo/Christian context. Violence once advocated and permitted by religious law is no longer compatible with the new covenant established by Jesus and the covenant the Church, and those individuals within the Church, covenant to live into together.

The Bible is NOT a Weapon

For the Word Made Flesh to be weaponized means we are attempting the realign Christ with those who not only had him crucified but also with those who maintain power today through threats of violence and marginalization.

Blogging, Church, WritingsTeer HardyApril 26, 2018God and Guns, Bible, Weapons, Jesus, Peace, Blog, Teer HardyComment

Dueling Parades

To challenge the empire, to be the counter-cultural voice, to put on a piece of political street theater, requires you to be willing to enjoy the carnival-like atmosphere while it lasts because if you challenge things enough if you push the empire enough the empire will push back

Rethinking Evangelism

The problem with attractional evangelism and ministry is that it requires you to out-do yourself week after week. Those who showed up for the giveaway, might stay because they've found God or discovered that Christ has always been present in their lives but if they came for the novelty of the car, and you don't have another novelty lined up, the emptiness of attractional evangelism will fall flat and the 51% increase experience will dwindle back to the norm until the next over the top outreach attempt.

Church, Leadership, Evangelism, Bad ChristianityTeer HardyMarch 13, 2018Evangelism, Attractional Ministry, GiveawayComment

Tension Among the Saints

What we miss in avoiding the tension between Thessalonians and Revelation is that while it may be hard in this life we have the confidence of knowing what happens at the end of the book: God wins. We win. Christ’s holiness wins over “failure and disappointment,” “separation and abandonment.”

In Line With Moses & Peter - Exodus 3:1-15 - Year A, Proper 17

Like Moses, even when we stumble, we do our best to gather ourselves, moving back on to the path of independence, the path we have carefully charted out and are attempting to follow with laser-like precision. Even when we take a step back, either because we killed an abusive Egyptian, or because we stumbled over our best-laid plans, we can typically get back on track, moving back towards the independence we desperately desire. We often find though, just as Moses did, that God has other plans for our lives.