Christian Mythbusters

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  Last week I tried to break some of the myths that have been cropping up about the “Order of Love” in Christian theology and ethics, particularly the way that Vice-Presid...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  Well, it’s not every day that the latest in politics gets people debating about Augustinian theology or the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, but we do indeed live...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  In my last segment, I unpacked some of the history behind our current immigration laws, pointing how they were developed in service of white supremacy and that their cur...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  A friend of mine recently reached out to me because he is deeply concerned about the commitments Trump has made with regard to immigration. He wanted to create an open l...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  I am excited to be back with you for this series. I originally started airing these short segments in 2020, during the COVID-19 Pandemic and they continued through 2022....

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  The local PAC, “Ottawa Impact” which is currently trying to take over our school boards,  has listed as one of their core values, “A boy is a boy. A girl is a girl.” On...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  One of the realities of being a priest, similar to being a teacher or in other professions where you are constantly planning ahead, is that you live your life in two dif...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  We are at challenging point in the life of our country, in the experience of the church in America, and in many local communities, including mine here in Grand Haven, Mi...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  The mourning and funeral for Queen Elizabeth II last month was watched around the globe. The longest-serving monarch that England has ever known, the preparations for ma...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  One of the most potent images in Scripture and the church for our relationship with God is the metaphor of a parent and a child. It lies at the heart of the prayer Jesus...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  I know many of you, similar to me, likely enjoyed the traditional three-day weekend which ends summer each year. I’m always struck, though, that despite the common (and...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  My first position as a priest was at historic Christ Church Episcopal in Alexandria, Virginia. Our nation's first president, George Washington, served on the vestry of t...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  I’m aware, sometimes, that I give the impression that my own church, The Episcopal Church, is a place of perfect peace, love, and joy—celebrating the full inclusion of a...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  One of the strangest and, unfortunately, most common ways of trying to convert someone to the Christian faith is telling them that unless they convert to Christianity, t...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  Sometimes people come to me as a priest, telling me that they are having trouble finding God in their life. One of the best pathways I have for them is to start spending...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  This past week, on Sunday, June 26, my congregation hosted our second annual Pride worship service, held the last Sunday in Pride month to celebrate all God’s beloved ch...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  We’ve all had around a week to process it, but I know many of you are still reeling from the horror of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Two dead teachers. Nineteen...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  As we head toward the Memorial Day holiday, for many people it means the unofficial start of summer. Grills get uncovered, pools opened up, and many of us prepare for an...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  For the first couple weeks of May, our church, St. John’s Episcopal here in Grand Haven, ran a targeted Facebook ad with a survey aimed at people who are not connected t...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  Last week I talked about some of the Scriptural and theological reasons why there is room for a nuanced view of abortion in Christianity. Having been raised with strict...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  Like many of you, I was shocked to read the draft decision from the conservative majority of the United States Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade and transforming t...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  Today, as the church moves through Holy Week and approaches Easter Sunday, there is a tendency sometimes for Christianity to turn inward. And so, whether you are hearing...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  You and I live in an age and in a time when bodies of water are admired and enjoyed. Very rarely are they feared or seen as uncrossable boundaries. Of course, this does...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  It has been beautiful, absolutely beautiful, to see the worldwide outpouring of support for the Ukrainian people, particularly those who are fleeing Putin’s war into oth...

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.  I mentioned last week how during Lent, members of my parish are reading the book The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus by Fleming Rutledge. The discussion fr...