In Alister McGrath’s newest book, The Passionate Intellect: Christian Faith and the Discipleship of the Mind, four themes connected to eucharist are explored briefly, and I want to reflect on each one over the next four weeks. Recollection. The Eucharist is about remembering. If we take a moment to recollect that our first brothers and sisters took this bread and this cup in the presence of Jesus during his last few days, we will also recollect that the Lord’s supper... Read more
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Read more
A classic prayer of the Church: We praise thee, O God : we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee : the Father everlasting. To thee all Angels cry aloud : the Heavens, and all the Powers therein. To thee Cherubin and Seraphin : continually do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy : Lord God of Sabaoth; Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty : of thy glory. The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets :... Read more
Wrigley field is the greatest baseball field in the USA. Recently his dad and mom took Aksel down to Wrigley and his favorite thing was “ball dirt” around the dugout. Read more
I thought I’d begin the new school year and a new blog with a shot of a NPU student studying in the middle of campus. Before you leave the site today, go to the top left bar, above where it says “Jesus Creed” and click on “Patheos” and explore a little. I think you will find Patheos to be a site rich with resources. New Wineskins now has their series on what matters put together. God does not love America... Read more
One of the best essays I’ve ever read, one that both Kris and I have enjoyed more than once, is E.B. White’s encounter — ahem, non-encounter — with Hurricane Edna. Anyone read that essay? Here’s the skinny on the essay: He was up in Maine, the weather broadcasters had whipped the East Coast into a frenzy of what Edna might do, so White battened down everything in his home on the Maine coast. Got the windows protected; shut down the... Read more
It’s empirically based: moderate drinking is good for you, and better for you than not drinking at all and better than heavy drinking. I’m 100% in favor of control, of discipline, of not drinking in excess, of never drinking and driving, of young adults not drinking until they are mature enough to know what they’re doing, of… of … but still… total abstinence is neither biblical nor wise. When Jesus turned the water into wine, he was doing something that... Read more
Kris drives a Subaru Forester, and within two months her car has been scraped or bumped four different times … … and the scrapers and bumpers didn’t say squat to us. They just walked (or drove) away. One is a scrape that got below the paint line on the hood; two times we were bumped but good by someone opening doors and one gave us a little dent and the other scraped into the paint. Okay, these little bumps and... Read more
It is very common among biblical scholars and among informed pastors to modify our readings of the Bible, even theology, on the basis of sound scholarship. Sometimes it is by way of discoveries but more often than not it’s just someone does some really good work on the texts and says, “Hey, we had this one more or less wrong and there’s a better way.” I begin with a simple one that few can contest. I begin with a simple... Read more
Inside the lecture room we make a distinction between biblical scholars and theologians. The former are either Old Testament or New Testament, and the latter specialize in systems of thought, whether they focus on telling us what theologians teach (Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Barth) or what is to be taught (systematics). But outside those walls, and particularly in the local church, that distinction vanishes quickly when folks want wisdom or answers to questions. They don’t care if I’m a New Testament... Read more
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