Faith-Based Blog a blog about faith from a believer with bandwidth

Ed Dobson: WWJGTC?

So, just to demonstrate my "glutton for punishment" bonafides, I've been digging around ye olde internet for a number of sermons delivered on July 4th. Without fail, the holiday gets mentioned in just about every one. I click on Woodland Hills and listen to Greg Boyd give a very brief opening rant about idolatrous patriotism. I take a deep breath and click over to Lon Solomon and hear a series of message devoted to the inverse of all things Boyd. I re-read a Texas Monthly article on David Barton and flip through a few pages of John Yoder's work to contemplate new material for my Kindle app.

One sermon, in particular, that was very refreshing to hear pretty much nothing of the nationalism of the day, was from Ed Dobson, at Mars Hill. A bit of background might elaborate on why that is: Dobson was one of the original "founders" of the religious right, as it came into being in the late 70s. Dobson's journey has been rather eventful since then. He left his work with Jerry Falwell, wrote a book that questioned much of the work he had done previously. He's also been dealing with ALS since 2001. So listening to every sermon he has to offer has been a treat.

Here's a snippet toward the end of his sermon, which dealt primarily with the Prodigal Son. The tangent is one that I think ties well with Eugene Peterson's "The Jesus Way." If you care for more depth on Peterson's treatment of history, pick up the book. As for Dobson, here's his more modern treatment:

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