-
Third Sunday of Advent
O Lord Jesus Christ, you sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise make ready your way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient toward the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world, we may be…
-
Facts and Truth
In light of our current crazy political environment I find this quote incredibly insightful: “The effort to state an absolute fact is simply an attempt to achieve what is humanly impossible; all I can do is give you my interpretation of the facts.” — Ivy Lee, one of the first to practice the new field of public relations in the…
-
“Come Up Here”
After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with…
-
The One who is WITH us
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isa. 53:3) We want a warrior Messiah. We want the Jesus mean and wild. We want the celebrity Jesus all too often. So, when Jesus comes and identifies with the…
-
Global Christianity
When we say we have “struggles” with Christianity, or more specifically “evangelical” Christianity, we may then make a mistake and then blame “the Church” as a whole. I come too close to that line far too often. Tish Harrison Warren makes the case for global Christianity:
-
The dire warnings of Christian Celebrity
David French takes up the subject of celebrity pastors. It’s not just about the latest notable failing and “fashion pastors.” Or, “hot pastors.” It’s about guarding our hearts and staying humble before the Lord. Christian celebrities will continue to fall. But they don’t have to fall so often. They don’t have to inflict so much pain. Change will only come…
-
Book Review: J.I. Packer: His Life and Thought
I can remember years ago Dallas Willard saying, in effect, “One of the great failures of the Church today is the lack of discipleship.” That comes to mind as I read Alister McGrath’s latest book, J.I. Packer: His Life and Thought. McGrath has a much larger biography on Packer, but this was written as a tribute to Packer on his…
-
Advent and the Apocalypse
In Luke’s gospel, when Jesus speaks apocalyptically of “signs in the sun and moon and stars” and the “distress of nations,” he ends by saying that humanity “will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:25–27). He is speaking of himself and his Second Coming. He’s telling us that our great hope…
