Author: Aaron J. Smith
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Faith Like Sand
I don’t feel like I have a substantive faith. I’ve been let down by my expectations about God too many times. I know these expectations aren’t God, but they are my concept of God, and as such, dictate what I’m putting my faith in. When one of these flimsy expectations shatters and inevitably lets me… Read more
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ATMN Episode: Marc Alan Schelske-Walking Otherward
This week on All Things Made New, we’re talking with Marc Alan Schelske about his new book, Walking Otherward. Marc Alan Schelske is a happily recovering fundamentalist praying for the restoration of all things. He writes and teaches about spiritual maturity, emotional growth, and the other-centered, co-suffering way of Jesus. He is a small-church pastor… Read more
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Screaming into the Void About the Hope of Judgement
Pucker up to the breathing you need.Shout loud into the bright darkness of (*gestures wildly*) all this absolute and utter shit.Let your sound out atop the parking garage of the old mall, at the place the city can hear your battle cry. This is a scream to tear the night in half. Speak loudly my… Read more
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Blessed Are You
I grew up as the bully’s target. I got searing put downs for my glasses, for my grades, for my lack of interest in sports. One bully went as far as to make fun of the fact that my mom died when I was two. It was incessant and hurtful. One of the times when… Read more
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Because No One Has Hired Us
The office was small and cramped. A desk took up most of the room, but there was a couch. White, if I remember correctly. I was sitting on it, talking to Jerry. As he faced me, we discussed this thing I was doing. Maybe it was a church plant; perhaps it was just an alternative… Read more
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ATMN Byron Borger- Embodied Words
Friends, today we get to talk with Byron Borger. Before opening the Hearts & Minds Bookstore, Byron worked in college ministry for the CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach), working on staff of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in McKeesport, PA, as well as working on various peace and justice issues while being an Associate Director of The… Read more
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Christ the King Sunday
The Utah day was sunny, not too warm. I was feeling well and enjoying it. I prayed my rosary as I walked, which I often did in my early twenties. Everything seemed right in the world. As I prayed, “The whole earth is filled with his glory,” my eyes fell on the dead, decomposing bird on the… Read more
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The Point of Evangelism
I believe in hell. The hell I believe in is empty, though. Hell has been harrowed and sits as nothing more than a mausoleum memorial to the universal salvific power of Christ’s love. It is a shadow, a memory, with no power to terrify or threaten any more. Hell is a no place, a no… Read more
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A Church on Fire
The evangelical church in the United States of America is on fire. This isn’t the fire we prayed for, sang about, and worked towards in youth groups. This isn’t being sold out for Jesus, being all in on faith. This isn’t being on fire for God. No, this is a dumpster fire, a Gahanna, a… Read more
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ATMN Episode: Erin Jean Warde-Sober Spirituality
This week, we get to talk to a long time internet friend Erin Jeane Warde. The Rev. Erin Jean Warde (she/her) is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, recovery coach, and writer. She is the author of Sober Spirituality: The Joy of a Mindful Relationship with Alcohol. She offers a course, Discerning Sobriety, which helps participants bring spiritual… Read more