Merry Christmas from Webby

Last updated on: December 18, 2006 at 2:22 am By Scot McKnight

Webster got groomed and we try to preserve such moments for his clean appearance only lasts a short while. Read more

CNN Presents: After Jesus — The First Christians

Last updated on: December 18, 2006 at 2:18 am By Scot McKnight

If you have a chance, I recommend each of you carve out the evening of Dec 20, from 7-9pm, to watch CNN. The show is called After Jesus: The First Christians, and it is an excellent and stimulating presentation of the first four centuries of the Christian faith. CNN kindly sent me an advanced copy and I have watched it in its entirety. |inline Read more

Portion sizes

Last updated on: December 18, 2006 at 2:10 am By Scot McKnight

Many of us are now involved in Christmas parties and even planning our Christmas table. Kris regularly reminds me — not always to my liking and not always with her intended goal! — of this: “portion size.” Restaurants, she tells me, double the size; airplanes give the proper portion size. The psalmist, at the meal, said this: |inline Read more

Christmas is about Promise

Last updated on: December 17, 2006 at 2:30 am By Scot McKnight

A Magnificat kind of Christmas knows that Mary experienced profound release the moment she realized her son would be Messiah. Her release found its way into a marvelous song that extolled the faithfulness of God to his promise. |inline Read more

Prayer for the Week

Last updated on: December 17, 2006 at 2:28 am By Scot McKnight

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory now and forever. Amen. + Read more

Lighting the 3d Advent Candle

Last updated on: December 17, 2006 at 2:22 am By Scot McKnight

Third Sunday of Advent Today we relight the first two candles of the Advent wreath. The candle of HOPE and the candle of PEACE. |inline Read more

All a-Julbord

Last updated on: December 16, 2006 at 2:20 am By Scot McKnight

Kris and I went with Joel and Karla Willitts to Tre Kronor last Friday evening for the 5:30pm sitting of Julbord — a delicate, abundant, and cultural Swedish Christmas meal. Four courses — kinds of pickled herring, cold fishes (salmon etc), cheeses and cold meats, and then warm meats and potatoes and the like. Incredibly tasty. We had a wonderful evening and were glad to spend the evening with Joel and Karla (Joel is my new colleague at NPU and... Read more

Weekly Meanderings

Last updated on: December 16, 2006 at 2:10 am By Scot McKnight

No speaking events until after the New Year when I give lectures at Pepperdine University. But, I’ve got plenty of radio interviews coming up on Mary. Those evening ones tire me and I’m pooped — don’t folks know I have a blog to maintain?! [ 🙂 ] |inline Read more

Friday is for Friends

Last updated on: December 15, 2006 at 2:30 am By Scot McKnight

Once again, we return (as friends) to M. Volf’s book, The End of Memory. His concern is how to remember wrongdoing and wrongdoers truthfully. His topic haunts those who have suffered, and those of us committed to loving our neighbors need to learn how significant memory of suffering is. |inline Read more

The Church’s Story of America

Last updated on: December 15, 2006 at 2:22 am By Scot McKnight

Here’s the big question: Is the word “evangelical” losing its theological anchor? If you ask the theologians, an evangelical is someone committed to such things as personal conversion, the authority of the Bible, the cross, and evangelistic-missionary efforts. If you ask the American populace, however, the word “evangelical” means Religious Right, it means fundamentalism, it means taking America back for God (the fear of Constantinianism: Church rules the State), and it means intolerance. This popular perception concerns me deeply. |inline Read more