Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us; you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you... Read more
O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Read more
OK, it’s Switzerland and not Chicago, but we get that kind of snow at times. Too bad for Arizona and sunny Southern California and Texas and Florida. There’s something beautiful about snow (now go away). Tamara Buchan‘s lesson in airports is a good reminder for those of us who travel (and get delayed). Another pastor, Rob Bell gives a good reminder about forgiveness. Todd Hiestand has a good reminder about fear and hope. Derek Leman‘s reflections on the throne vision... Read more
Song by Johnny Cash? Anyone out there go to any of his concerts? We really liked the movie “Walk the Line” and the other night we found a few YouTube videos by Johnny and had a great walk down memory lane. Kris and I both like “Jackson.” Read more
Recently a gifted young anabaptist pastor, Shane Hipps, weighed in at Out of Ur blog about whether or not cyberspace provides “community.” He says “No” and I’m wondering what you think? Here is my response. Can “community” exist in cyberspace? In what senses can it and in what senses can it not? Your point about not equating virtual community (grant me the term for the moment) with real community is one that needs to be heard. But, I’m not so... Read more
What about the idea that you must love yourself before you can love others? Jean Twenge, in her new book, Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled–and More Miserable Than Ever Before, takes on this question. Studies show that this is easy to get backwards. Barbara Walters to Hugh Downs: “Oh, Hugh! First of all, you have to like yourself before you can like others.” Well, maybe; well, it depends; well, this can lead to a... Read more
David Naugle’s second chapter in his fine new book, Reordered Love, Reordered Lives: Learning the Deep Meaning of Happiness, is about Augustine. Augustine lists the three causes of unhappiness and the one cause of genuine happiness. What do you think of his breakdown? How about a concrete instance of each one? Here they are: 1. Some people are unhappy because they cannot obtain what they treasure most. This person does not get what he or she most wants. They are... Read more
Before we answer this, I’m wondering if you are hearing things like this. Any response? Scot, This is unbelievably forward of me. I am a reader of your blog. I have a question about New Testament history, perhaps you can point me to a resource or might want to write about it on your blog sometime. I belong to a message board for evangelical Christian mothers. An increasing number of the members are intrigued by “Messianic worship” and quite... Read more
James sees the testing of faith — the ability to see through a bad situation to what God will make of it — as an opportunity to set off a chain reaction: 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. The person is a messianic believer; the person... Read more
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