Today the Church in the west celebrates one of the feasts of the Church year: All Saints day. This is a special day where we remember all the Christians through all time both past and present. It has been celebrated decisively in the West on November First since the early Eight Century, although there was certainly other days where all the saints were remembered before that. In the East the saints are collectively commemorated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. There... Read more

My family has recently been reading through the Gospel of Matthew as part of our evening prayer using one of my favorite prayer resources the Treasury of Daily Prayer. At the same time I have also been reading through Deuteronomy. As I read both of these books in tandem I noticed that they have a huge amount of parallels. The Gospel of Matthew is a book that screams the Old Testament. There is almost no story that doesn’t have some... Read more

Jonah and the Worm (Nappanee, Indiana: Evangel Press,1983) has been called one of the greatest works of missiology ever written by some,  and one of the finest examples of Christian fiction by others, and it happens to be a children’s book. It was written by Jill Briscoe, a speaker and author who is involved with “the Telling the Truth” radio programs. In this book Briscoe seems to be trying to communicate that if you follow God you never know where exactly you... Read more

“By the Hand of Nicholas Papas” Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, is best known as being the woman who was raised from the dead by Peter the Apostle. She was remembered this week on October 25th by the Orthodox Church, and the Lutheran Church (LCMS) but interestingly not by the Roman Catholic Church. I am curious to what the connection is since it’s rare that the Lutherans have a date similar to the Orthodox but not the Catholics. If anyone... Read more

Today’s post comes from sassy Lutheran theo-blogger Tim Steele. If you don’t know Tim check out his blog Prodigal Son where he comments on hermeneutics, patristics, and all things Christ. Enjoy! All Hallow’s Eve- better known as Halloween- is the feast day before All Saints (Nov 1), within the Western tradition. Seeing as it is that season, I believe it is appropriate to discuss what the Communion of Saints is, and how this relates to the life of the Christian. “Credo... Read more

This is from the Introduction to Athanasius’ On The Incarnation  by C.S. Lewis I have been told over and over to read this so I finally did. It was way to good to keep to myself. Saint of the week will have to wait until Wednesday There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. Thus I have... Read more

A few weeks ago we posted a quote where it seemed like Basil the great was blasting Sola Scriptura preemptively by 1000 years or so. I thought to be balanced I would post this quote from his fellow Cappadocian: Gregory of Nyssa. “If custom is to avail for proof of soundness, we too, surely, may advance our prevailing custom; and if they reject this, we are surely not bound to follow theirs. Let the inspired Scripture, then, be our umpire, and the vote of truth will surely be given to those whose dogmas are found to agree with the... Read more

A dear friend of mine passed away this weekend. Over the last few years Chrissy Burns spend a good deal of her Sunday afternoons at my parents home with what we called the “Brunch Bunch” it was essentially a bunch of people who had gradually managed to make it into our family. We would all get together and eat and laugh. Chrissy was always a one of the main reasons we were laughing. Chrissy you will be dearly missed. Read more

Now that I am a father I thought I might give you updates on my prayer life with my son. So far it’s been awesome. He wakes me up early and we go pray while him Mom is asleep. I have something called a moby wrap which I wrap him up in and he curls up comfortably while I pray. He likes the Treasury of Daily Prayer, and the Liturgy of the Hours a lot since I chant and sing... Read more

I ran into this video via a friend from seminary here at North Park who is working for the Marin Foundation who hosted this session a couple weeks ago. The Marin foundation is a organization that is working for the re-humanization of the LGBT community I thought it was very good. I have always had trouble finding my voice on this issue. As one of our readers recently told me “The way the churches have joined and even provided the... Read more