Long time readers of this blog will know that I love the Jesus Prayer. The Jesus prayer is inspired by the prayer of the publican in Luke 8. I came to love it after reading The way of the Pilgrim (which is a must read book)Traditionally the prayer goes “Κύριε Ιησού Χριστέ, Υιέ του Θεού, ελέησόν με τον αμαρτωλόν.” Which is “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” in english. There are however several variations on it.It’s… Read more

I ran into this Video today via Doug Pagitt… I thought it was pretty good.This is pretty much what I believe… How about you? How did we get the Bible today? What’s your understanding of it? Read more

This week the New York times reported that creativity in the USA was down. The article essentially said people are learning less about how to be creative and more about how to satisfy testing standards and meet scores.I find this news somewhat troubling. As an American I see our creativity (which up until now has been the best worldwide) as the only bright light up ahead. As jobs move overseas due to out-sourcing and national debt continues to rise at… Read more

Have you ever heard someone say something like, ” Church must be relevant to the lost people who need Christ?”It’s something I hear all the time.And it’s something I agree with…However when you start talking to them you find they have a completely different idea of what a “relevant” church looks like…In most cases in my life this confusion stems from different uses of the word “Church.”For many people “Church” refers to the structures, services, and programs offered by an… Read more

We continue our series “After Pentecost.” Exploring the life of the Christian in “Ordinary Time”. Todays perspective is brought by Mos Def…. sort of. I would post a ‘re-mix’ of something Mos Def said back in 1999.He was originally talking about Hip-Hop, but I thought it might also speak to the Church. I replaced “hip hop” with “the Church”. Hey Mos Def, if you’re out there, I hope this is cool with you. Let me know.From Fear Not Of Man [Explicit] by Mos DefA lot of things have changedA lot… Read more

My history professor at North Park, Phil Anderson, is rather keen on quoting Blaise Pascal’s famous adage, “the heart has reasons that reason knows nothing about.” This saying illustrates beautifully the tension between the philosophy of the Enlightenment and the actual experiences of individuals. This dichotomy of dispositions, although always abiding within the human person, was most dramatically thrown into tension around the time of Pascel.Pascel was writing at a time where reason was ascendant amongst academians, and “heart religion”… Read more

We continue our series “After Pentecost.” Exploring the life of the Christian in “Ordinary Time”. Todays perspective is brought by guest blogger Soong-Chan Rah. Soong-Chan is Soong-Chan Rah is the author of The Next Evangelicalism and is Milton B. Engebretson Associate Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism and North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL. Today he discusses the question “should a Christian have a role in the political life of their community?”A frequently asked question these days relates to the role of the church in civic society…. Read more

We continue our series “After Pentecost.” Exploring the life of the Christian in “Ordinary Time”. Todays perspective is brought by guest blogger Yasuyuki Kamata.Yasu Kamata is a recent graduate of North Park Theological Seminary.  A native of Japan, he will return to his home country from this fall and serve with KGK, a member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) and a sister organization of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.  His role would be “to help students grow deeper and broader” – deeper by understanding… Read more

My wife and I are going to Alaska today. We will be gone for over a month!! I don’t have too much time to tell you all about the exciting things we will be doing there, but I will be a camp councilor and a worship leader for a Covenant Bible camp!The series I will be posting while I am gone is called “After Pentecost.” It’s essentially my way of engaging the season in the church year we often call… Read more

Today is Pentecost! The icon for this festival is known as “The Descent of the Holy Spirit”.   Direction – We read top to the bottom. Start by looking at the semicircle with rays coming from it which are  pointing toward the Apostles. These show God sending his holy spirit on the twelve apostles. Color red and gold are seen in this icon boldly which teaches us that this is a momentousness event.The building in the background of the icon is the upper room where the Disciples of… Read more