Tyler Braun's Blog, page 13

The Gospel of 2017

As Lady Gaga took the stage for 2017’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, I could think of no other more fitting artist for the times we live in. While she certainly had the attention of fans previously, her song “Born This Way” became an anthem for generations who felt overlooked, misunderstood, and unvalued by those around them (if you haven’t seen the music video to “Born this Way” it’s fascinating, in a troubling way).

Underlying this cry from many—given voice through the lyrics of Lady Gaga—there...

Ten

To be honest, I was still surprised she said yes as I stood there.

Ten years feels like yesterday and a lifetime ago, at the same time. Where did the time go? Yet everything has changed. Well, everything other than us still looking like we’re 18 years old.

She’s walked with me through a drastic career change, just 5months into our brand new marriage.

She’s worked 3 separate jobs to help us make ends meet when I was between jobs.

All throughout dating and engagement, I promised her a lavish...

Looking in the High Places

Leading up to the time of Jesus, the nation of Israel had their eyes fixated toward the coming Messiah. He would be the one to loosen to chains of Roman rule, leading a revolution toward freedom and power for God’s people.

The Jewish people would read and study texts such as Isaiah 10 and 11 and come to an understanding that the Messiah would be a man of great nobility, of political and military prowess, and he would fight for God’s people. Several men did lead the Jewish people in victory a...

Why I Wore a Safety Pin During My Sermon Last Sunday

This past Sunday I wore a safety pin during my sermon at my fairly conservative, mostly white, evangelical church. I share those detailsbecause approximately 81% of people in that demographic of Americans voted for Donald Trump (though, here’s a well-informed read on why that number is very misleading).

Those of you who have been around this space over the past year know I’ve been decidedly against the Christian evangelical support of Trump (HERE and HERE and HERE, mostly notably).

I lamente...

But Now What?

November 9th is coming quickly. This disaster of an election cycle will be over soon, leaving us with the duty of picking up the pieces. Soon the question will no longer be “who?” and it will become “but now what?”

—

Last week I grabbed lunch with a church member nearly twice my age. He invited me. Turned out he wanted to talk about some controversial subjects, and once the topic was established I was ready to spout my truth.

Not long before that, a young man, a few years younger than me, vi...

The Christian and Marijuana Use

In recent years marijuana has been legalized in a handful of states, including my own home state, Oregon. In a few weeks the state of California will likely legalize marijuana, continuing the trajectory toward universal legalization of the drug around the United States.

For nearly all of my lifetime, the question of whether a Christian should use marijuana for any reason was an easy answer: no. No, because it broke the law outside of some allowances for “medical” purposes available in some st...

“Thank God for Innovation”

Last week at the Catalyst Conference, Brian Houston, who heads Hillsong Church, referenced a couple popular songs written by his church. Each of these songs is either not sung or rarely sung by their church today. Here’s the quote:

You may be shocked to hear we don’t sing Shout to the Lord anymore at Hillsong Church. It’s not 1993. If you come all the way to Australia and you hope to hear ‘Shout to the Lord,’ your chances are slight. We don’t even sing Oceans much anymore.

Whether you find t...

I’m Not OK

It seems that for a few weeks every year I get in a funk. A “is-this-really-all-life-is?” kind of funk. A funk where I ask “who am I and what am I doing with my life?” but I struggle to land on an answer I like. A funk where nothing satisfies.

Sometimes this funk is hard to notice. Recently I found myself being short with my kids, uncharitable to my wife, and unmotivated in my aspirations. I started to wonder if something was wrong. On the surface, life was great. I still worked as many hour...

Worthy of Suffering

About 6 months ago a team of men I’m involved with launched a devotional app for Apple devices. Today I’m sharing one of the almost 100 devotional posts you can read through the app.

“The apostles left the Sanhedrin (local religious leaders), rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” Acts 5:41

The entire chapter of Acts 5 deserves a look in order to understand the magnitude of verse 41. The apostles, led by Peter, were preaching about Jesus all over...

Shifting to Weekly Communion

Starting this Sunday our church is going to take part in The Lord’s Supper every week. For the entire life of ourchurch we have only partaken of the bread and cup on a monthly basis, so this is a fairly dramatic shift in practice for us.

Scripture speaks to the importance of Communion but there’s a multitude of approaches churches have in terms of how often to partake. Some don’t ever partake, some once a year, some for special events, some once a month, and others every week.

A book could e...