• The call to wait

    If I was looking for a sign things couldn’t get more obvious. I was asked to preach on Christmas Day and when asked, I immediately knew I should set aside the gospel for the day and instead focus on Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:22-40).

  • The mystery of prayer

    Some thoughts from N.T. Wright in The Challenge of Acts:

  • The prophetic and the poetic

    The prophetic in the Old Testament was called the poetic by OT scholar Walter Brueggemann. I’ve grown to love that comparison over the years. I was reminded of it again reading this paragraph from a recent article:

  • Living into Kingdom Order

    NT Wright’s new book, The Challenge of Acts, is a needed word for our time. In a day when we, as segments of American Christianity, are striving for “cultural order” (and calling it “kingdom”), we need our lives centered on Kingdom order.

  • The new creation is enacted

    From N.T. Wright’s new book, The Challenge of Acts: When we put chapter 2 together, then, we find that the ancient promises about God filling the whole creation with his wisdom and glory have become focused on Jesus and his followers. The small sketch of the church in verse 42 functions eschatologically: Jesus’ followers become a small working model of…

  • The big wager: get out of bed

    A little book by Alan Noble called On Getting Out of Bed is well worth your time.

  • The gift of tongues

    I grew up in a Pentecostal denomination. I was a minister for over 30 years in a Pentecostal denomination. I remain immensely thankful to God for the background I have been gifted and the rootedness I have in a faith that interacts with the Spirit and looks to what God can indeed do today in the lives of people.

  • Jesus ruling this world

    I am working my way through NT Wright’s new book, The Challenge of Acts. He does a quick summary of Acts 1 and then asks some significant questions.

  • The broader gospel

    I have had NT Wright’s new book, The Challenge of Acts, on my shelf for awhile. I have some time to pull it out and begin to work through it. A small book, but NT Wright find’s his ways of making every word count. While I wish it to be a “quick read,” it will just be another pondering of…

  • We don’t always get answers, but we get his presence

    I get a weekly communication from Renovare and the letter this week from Brian Morykon was deeply moving. I couldn’t find an online version to link to, so I am just cutting and pasting, hoping I’m not violating any copyright laws in the process.