Christmas meant Silence and Speech: Luke 1:18-25 Zechariah yearned for the day when God would step in and redeem Israel from its problems. But, when that day was announced, Zechariah, like Abraham (Gen 15:8), asked this question: “How can I be sure of this?” I am reminded also of Sara laughing. Acceptance of what God is doing has never been easy, especially when that work is surprising. |inline Read more
This is a video of a young man’s attempt to tell his love in song. Some, they say, have it all. This might become a hit. Read more
This is a video of a young man’s attempt to tell his love in song. Some, they say, have it all. This might become a hit. Read more
This series is my own preparation for Advent, and it will look at the First Christmas and how various characters encountered the First Christmas. “What was Christmas like for….?” is the question we are asking. We will look at Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary (with Elizabeth again), Joseph, and Simeon/Anna. Each will have five separate posts around this theme: their encounter with the revelation that Christmas was about to occur. These are not sermons, but advent preparation reflections, and I hope... Read more
This post is the first in a series of a review of Eugene Peterson’s new book, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology. There will be a gaggle of speakers in this series, including me (I’ll probably do most of the summaries), Steve McCoy, Joe Thom, Keith Carpenter, Brad Bergfalk, Brad Boydston, Paul Duppenthaler, Rob Merola and Kevin Cawley. So, if you start to see some familiar names, they are all pastors 0r close to it.... Read more
Our NPU Biblical and Theological Studies Dept was invited to attend the book launch for Frederica Mathewes-Green’s new book, First Fruits of Prayer. We were shuttled over to St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Church where we were given some finger foods from various parts of the world, and then Frederica and a small band of singers went through the basic ideas of her book and then “chanted” them in Orthodox style. The music was repetitive, but because there was a rhythmical... Read more
We were joined yesterday by another colleague, BN, and without asking permission, he simply joined the chorus of snorning last night. Right now, behind me, he lies — arm over his head and snoring plentifully. His distinctive contribution is the sound of someone rubbing bare knuckles over an old, metal, washboard. While BN and I were discussing our search last night, BJ, within 3 minutes of going prone, was beginning to honk, while KZ’s snoring last night was subtle. Nothing... Read more
The blog of the week goes to Steve McCoy who, unknown to me, sitting in my office when Don Hagner and I were talking about divorce and remarriage, videotaped us and has now posted a video of it — with his ongoing need to nap during our riveting discussion. |inline Read more
One of the advantages of spending a weekend with my friends in Philadelphia is experiencing how others sleep. Both of my roommates, sometime past midnight, decided to begin snoring — as I waited for the slumbers of sleep to wash over me. One of them, whose initials are BJ, began quickly and made fast work of getting to his apex. He began to sound a bit like a honker. This continued for a good ten minutes when the other, whose... Read more
Here it is: in Matt 5:38-42 Jesus summons those who want to follow him to a radical way of life. They are to avoid, at all costs, seeking revenge. Jesus sets it up by quoting Exod 21:24 (or its other citations) — eye for an eye text, and flat-out challenges its applicability for his followers as that text was currently understood. |inline Read more
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