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Church Fellowship
August 21, 2011 We celebrated our Brother Das becoming a US Citizen. Great food and fellowship!
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The Still Small Voice
The call of God doesn’t often come in the news. Direction from God may not come in the “action” of the day, or the “action” of our lives. I love Elijah’s call in 1 Kings 19. God needed to give him new direction. When Elijah was at Horeb, there was the wind that came through, then the earthquake, but both…
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The Rage of the Prophets
I am off for a few days of vacation with family. Our attempt is to do as little as possible, which may be aided by a couple of days of storms. As I enter into a very short period of “rest,” my reading for the week will actually be JEREMIAH. What a combination! In this time of rest I am…
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Bible Memorization
I grew up memorizing Scripture. I was in Bible Quiz in high school and memorized huge chunks of the New Testament. I miss my memory! In thinking of Bible memory, it is also important to understand that just having the verses down in your head doesn’t mean you’re letting the Word cultivate in your heart. The Word needs to have…
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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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Salt and Subversiveness
The call of Jesus is to be the salt of the earth. Bonhoeffer has some insightful thoughts on salt in Discipleship. They are some good reminders for us. Too often, as conservative evangelicals (my “tribe”, so to speak), the focus has been on heaven. Basically it’s an attitude of “Just get me out of here!” Salt penetrates the earth. We…
