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Transitions
This is the time of year for graduations and weddings. This is a time of year when I reflect often on transitions. Last December, when my oldest son got engaged, I felt a hard transition. Life had just radically shifted. It wasn’t scary. It was just… real. We went out to dinner to celebrate and all of a sudden I’m…
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Sacramental Witness — Part Three
Part One Part Two The beauty of sacramental witness is it helps us tell the story of our faith over and over. The “downside” is not with the method. The downside is with our “been there, done that” culture. We hear something once and then think we have it down. There is very little we truly enjoy in our journey…
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Sacramental Witness — Part Two
Part One Harper and Metzger call the church in North America a “little flock.” It is convicting to read those words. We think the Church is huge. Maybe it is not. Their words are sharp. It is almost like reading one of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation. We need to hear this message. In the past generation…
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Sacramental Witness
Being able to speak at a party convention or say a prayer for a party convention or giving a national address on behalf of a political party is intoxicating. And we need to get sober.
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Book Review — The Hole in Our Gospel
I am grateful to Thomas Nelson for the review copy of The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. Part autobiography, part biblical challenge, Stearns wants to raise our awareness to the needs of the poor in the world. More than that, he wants us to realize the amazing resources we already have at our disposal that would alleviate a…
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The Call to Follow
I am preaching on the last part of John 1 this Sunday. It is the call to discipleship. John uses key words in describing the process of discipleship. Some of John the Baptist’s followers were pointed toward Jesus, so they followed. They wanted to know where he stayed. His response: “Come and see.” The call to discipleship is the same…
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Unique
I am currently working my way through Exploring Ecclesiology by Harper and Metzger. My mind has been challenged over the past months on the subject of the Church. This book is helping in my thought processes. One quote stands out from my current reading: “The church that is obsessed with constantly reinventing itself through ever-newer symbols is in danger of…
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Engaging the Culture
I have posted a couple of times on an interview with James Davison Hunter in Christianity Today. Hunter’s take on our political activity is critical, and I agree. Yet, he raised the hackles of Chuck Colson, another man I deeply admire. Colson’s critique was a bit too critical, in my view. He felt Hunter’s position meant Christians just withdraw from society.…
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God is Not a Republican
Or a Democrat. No matter how hard we try to SAY that… we just stumble over it. We let our political views sneak through as believers. Listening to someone who wanted to pray for people in a legislative setting, the assessment of how “bad” the situation is during the session was based on tax increases. Politically, we can like or…
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New Discoveries in Blogdom
I like “blogdom” better than “blogoshere.” Two new (to me) blogs from Pentecostal/Charistmatic persepectives: The Pentecostal Worker To Be Continued
