I recently read through the fantastic new volume by Lester Ruth and Lim Swee Hong A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship: Understanding the Ideas That Reshaped the Protestant Church  This study offers a new gold standard in understanding the history of contemporary praise and worship music. It helps move the understanding beyond many of the limited narratives that focus too narrowly on the Jesus People’s influence and takes seriously many of the efforts and movements both within the Pentecostal/Charismatic churches... Read more

Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. There he was tempted for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and afterward Jesus was starving.” Luke 4:1-2 Have you ever wondered why Jesus decided to begin his public ministry by retreating into the wilderness for 40 days? The voice of the Father declared Jesus his beloved Son, the Spirit descended on Jesus, and then…... Read more

I’ll be honest. I’ve struggled to find a good book on the Catholic belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. The books with the most comprehensive approach tend to be so academically focused that they are difficult for the average reader to understand. Those written for popular audiences tend to fall into some common traps. Some of these books reduce the theology to a rigidly formulaic approach – relying on an Aristotelian cosmology which no longer... Read more

When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. Jn 19:30 Why do you think today is called Good Friday? Today we remember the death of Jesus. It is a solemn day, a sad day, a day of mourning. We remember the depths of the pain and agony that Jesus entered on the cross. We are dismayed at the capacity of humanity to hurt and betray one another. We... Read more

“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, release the prisoners.” Is 61:1 Have you ever trained for a race? In some ways, Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness was similar to the preparation for a race. If you read Luke Chapter 4 in its entirety you see that Jesus’ fasting flows directly... Read more

“When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said ‘Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.’ Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, ‘Surely it is not I, Lord?’” Mt 26:20-22 Have you ever been shocked by something you did? It often happens when our emotions are running high. We yell at someone we love. We insult a person we respect.... Read more

Simon Peter said to him, ‘Master, where are you going?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.’” Jn 13:36 Could you simplify your job description down to two words? In Jesus’ time learning to follow the way of God was caught as much as it was taught. Disciples would be invited to follow a rabbi (Jewish teacher) and would learn through emulation. You ate like your rabbi, slept like your... Read more

“I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.” Is 42:6-7 Have you ever had someone who believed in you more than you believed in yourself? I can honestly say that in... Read more

“Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!'” Mark 11:8-10 Do you like stories with surprise endings? I love it when an author manages to tie a complex web... Read more