The Orant

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 … [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 ordinary time. I want people to answer the question, "What does it mean to be a Christian living … [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 … [Read more...]

A few days ago Zac Smith passed away. I never knew him accept through a video that was posted online three months ago. You can watch it below.http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9796056&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1The Story of Zac Smith from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.Albert Camus once said, "It's no use reminding yourself daily that you are mortal: it will be brought home to you soon enough.”This year my own mortality h … [Read more...]

1) Prayer is an encounter, but also a relationship - Often times we set aside 15 minuets in the morning, or perhaps even an hour, and get upset when God doesn't "show up." We imagine that our relationship with God should conform to our own schedules, but that is not a healthy attitude to have in any relationship. God is with us at all times. Remember a healthy relationship with God is one that is mutual. We may be knocking on God's door for 15 minuets in the morning, but God is … [Read more...]

A few months ago Zondervan and Baker Publishing announced a new way to try to get a book published. Rather then sending in a manuscript and waiting for a letter telling you if your manuscript is good enough, Zondervan and baker now are saying you should go to authonomy.com/Christian. This webpage offers real-time feedback for authors who are working towards being published. … [Read more...]

I love liturgy. I really do, there are few things in life that get me more excited then exploring how different elements of liturgy reflect the message of the Gospel.Some times my friends in the Evangelical world get on my case about my love for liturgy. They claim that following forms breeds dead religion.My response is that every church has set ways they do things, traditional liturgy simply establishes meaningful well thought out forms.I ran into this video today via Jesus Creed. The video is … [Read more...]

Fellow blogger and Orthodox know-it-all Silouan Thompson recently pointed out the following story to me from Diana Butler Bass' book A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story. For those of you who don't know Bass I posted a little on her a while back.I can't say I've ever run into this myself, but I do think it's difficult for many of us who come from churches of the reformation to square our view of the church, and the reality that for much of Christian history people … [Read more...]

A few weeks ago I was driving to Michigan from my home in Chicago. I was excited to see my family there, and also my wife who had gone before me a few days. I love seeing my family. There is no other group of people that reflect who I am. I am a little like my Mother, a little like my brothers, a little like my sister, more like my Father then I care to admit, and I am quite a bit like my wife, Joan. This is true of all of us. We have lived with our families for large portions of our lives. Over … [Read more...]