The praise should be as beautiful as can be, with nothing slovenly and tawdry about the singing and nothing careless about the reading of God’s word. The prayer, you will agree, should be as soulful and deliberate as talking with God ought to be and the sermon as fittingly phrased and delivered as is becoming of the eternal Gospel. And this is not only for preachers and members of the choir, but for all. The idea is of worship in company, communal worship if you will. And you have not w … [Read more...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39udgGPyYMgThe new Spiderman movie is out, the second reboot of the franchise. The whole thing has been mired in a web of litigation until finally Marvel was able to get control of our friendly neighborhood guy once more. Is your spidey sense tingling yet? Stan Lee is so relieved, he was prepared to play a tenement dweller in Queens on a hot day, for his cameo in this one. The early box office showings suggest this will be the biggest hit of the summer, and … [Read more...]

We become the creatures of habit, our ruts become too deep to get out of. Grooves are in danger of becoming graves. … [Read more...]

There is no need to be a crank, an oddity, for the sake of the Kingdom. Someone has said that the Lord has His dear ones, and His queer men. He has. The cause of God has suffered because of the angularities and peculiarities of some professing Christians. It is not for me to condemn folk who are better and braver than I am, but I do not think Christ calls us to be anything simply silly. There is no need to exalt fads to the position of prominent tradition. … [Read more...]

Religion makes demands on us in worship. Worship is not an easy thing. To sit and criticize while the minister pours out his own soul, to look on at the choir as you would at an opera chorus, to pass judgment on the service as you would on a play, that is not worship! To come to Church to see your friends and eager to gossip, that is not worship. When men worship, they not only fall on their knees, they fall on their faces before God. God takes hold of their soul and they take hold of His … [Read more...]

In discussing the original Tabernacle referred to in Exodus, the Methodist minister Fred Barrett, CK. Barrett's father, said the following:"But we shall greatly err, and to our own impoverishment, if we fail to see here the eternal behind the ephemeral, the essential behind the transient, and the spirit behind the form. Here at least is the first intimation that God will in very deed dwell with men and find His rest in the sanctuaries they consecrate to Him. He is not far from anyone of … [Read more...]

Some of us are mystics and some are practical men and women, some put the emphasis on prayer and worship, others are philanthropic and social services, some love to be up and doing and others love to stand and wait, some of us are of a choleric temperament, some phlegmatic, some sanguine, some of us are bright and gay and others somber and sad. And God is the God of all because He is the God of each. There is a place for each in His love and care. The love of God is broader than the measures … [Read more...]

In the most recent issue of the JBL Journal (vol. 136. no 2, pp. 381-303) Armin D. Baum offers us an article entitled "Content and Form: Authorship Attribution and Pseudonymity in Ancient Speeches, Letters, Lectures, and Translations--a Rejoinder to Bart Ehrman". The article is in general agreement with Ehrman (as I am) that there was no such things as 'harmless' pseudepigraphy, that is a using of someone else's name without an attempt to deceive some audience. There are exceptions to this … [Read more...]