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Gog and Magog and the End of the World
The past couple of weeks I have been reading through Jeremiah, Lamentations and Ezekiel. Just some light summer reading before heading back into teaching… As I cruise through Ezekiel 37-39 I am thrown back to my high school days. Those were the days when I had everything figured out. The Rapture, Israel, the Church, all of it. I could predict when…
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Does the Kingdom Truly Transform?
I am continuing to digest Walter Brueggemann’s interview (found here). His work in the Old Testament draws out the explosiveness of the prophets (which he prefers to call poets). The imagery of the Old Testament is explosive. It is meant to invade our senses and disrupt our lives. Brueggemann’s contention is the Church over the centuries has closed in the…
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Walter Brueggemann and the Disruption God Brings
This interview with Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann is well worth your time. In this interview he is asked to unpack some words used in the Old Testament, or some concepts used. In particular, around minute 25, he gets after how we, as preachers or believers, leave a lot of things unsaid because we are so bound up by our…
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Is the Creation Account Our New “Shibboleth”?
“Shibboleth” comes from a story in Judges. When one tribe was asked how to pronounce the word, they would miss the “h”, thus the enemy tribe could pick out their enemy and kill them when asking them that word. We look for those places of differentiation and we choose places to “make our stand.” I am wondering if we are…
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A Truly AMERICAN Experience
Setting aside all political arguments of what is right and wrong with this nation, I was able to experience one of the truly great ceremonies of our nation today. We have an Indian brother in our congregation who became a naturalized citizen today. It was my privilege to witness 705 new citizens from 82 different nations being sworn in as…
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Just Living Out Faith
There have been many reflections in all kinds of places on the life of John Stott since his passing this week. One of the kindest pieces I have read is from Nicholas Krisotff. This piece demonstrates the mental contortions we enter into in our world. As a conservative, evangelical Pentecostal, I see and experience these moral gymnastics we go through…
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The Narrow Gate Does NOT Mean Being “Narrow”
There are just certain things I can count on in the blogging world from the blogs I read regularly. I have ones I follow that will look for the negative in some particular source, then just bash away when they find it. Sometimes, it’s worth looking into. Such is the case with Joel Watts, whose disgust with Fox News is…
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Daring to Dream for American Excellence Once Again
I honestly try to steer away from any “political” statements on this this blog. (For that, go to FB or PLUS… 😉 ) But THIS interview with Thomas Friedman is simply outstanding. It’s so challenging, I want to share it as widely as possible. Please take the time to listen to these thoughts from Thomas Friedman. WARNING: Here is my…
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Mark Driscoll, Women Heroes, and Our Loss of Civility
I won’t get to ALL that stuff the title implies. Mark Driscoll, as per his normal routine, makes the blogging world rock. He cut into “effeminate” looking worship leaders who happened to be men. It’s Mark Driscoll. He’s rude, crude and gets hype because of it. It’s led to a backlash and then examination of how we should interact more…
Category: Culture
