A Portrait of What’s Possible, by Mike Glenn For several years, I was the teaching pastor of a young adult worship experience we called Kairos. Although I handed off that ministry to a talented, gifted and yes, younger colleague, I still miss being part of that Tuesday night experience. I learned a lot from them, and while I hope I gave them something in return, I will always be grateful for the lessons they taught me about what really matters... Read more

Of course, neither our President nor any nation’s leader is the same as the Davidic king envisioned here, but the Davidic king can be seen as a template of kingship — with due adjustments for our world, and with all respect to our Canadians who have some of their official statements embedded in this Psalm. Perhaps today you could begin by praying for our President. From BCP For the peace of the world, for the welfare of the Holy Church... Read more

The biggest difference between a professor who preaches or an author who preaches is that the professor or author doesn’t know the congregation. That makes all the difference for the local pastor’s preaching, and the Wednesday chapter in Frank Honeycutt’s Sunday Comes Every Week is all about Exegeting — beginning with the congregation. Which led Honeycutt to one story after another about the quirkiness of the people in his congregation. Quirky is the right word, and not a few unsavory wishes... Read more

Our new book is now shipping, thanks to Baylor for pressing the book’s early arrival. Think of a community that is divided, ethnically split, arrogant, challenged by a corrupt culture, and claiming to be followers of Jesus. If you’re thinking of the churches in first century Rome, you’re right.  Paul wrote his most famous and significant letter to a community with all sorts of challenges. It’s a shame we often neglect the community and the people behind this very important letter.... Read more

The following post, the first in a short series on the book of Acts, was written by a Christian colleague (JAG) who teaches in the School of Social Work. Both his professional expertise and his personal experience as a second generation immigrant shape his understanding of the book and bring insights that will help all of us read the book better. He presented the material in a well received class at our church and I am pleased to bring it... Read more

This is the third post in the series on Michael Bird and Scott Harrower Trinity without Hierarchy: Reclaiming Nicene Orthodoxy in Evangelical Theology, a book that collects essays that both criticize what must be called a Complementarian sub-Trinitarianism and they also offer an alternative in the classical Trinitarian orthodoxy of the church. I turn today to the post by Jules Martínez-Olivieri called “There is a Method to the Madness.” Here’s the madness, a quote from Wayne Grudem: Paul makes the parallel explicit... Read more

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. BCP Read more

An unusual month of very rainy and some very hot days in Chicagoland. Our Cubs are sputtering along. And my Reading Romans Backwards is about to start shipping. I’m excited to discuss this book. 10 dollars off right now at Amazon. New discovery of Pilgrimage Road in Jerusalem: in 2004, a sewage pipe burst in the middle of the neighborhood of Silwan in southeast Jerusalem. The municipality sent in a crew of construction workers to fix the leak, and as is... Read more

By Mike Glenn Speaking the Truth in Love Means We Don’t Give Up On any given Sunday, I might mention to the congregation to be gracious to each other because we never know the heart ache that might be seated on the pew with us. Everyone who walks into a church on any given Sunday typically walks in with a load of care. There’s a couple who is trying to think about how to tell their children they’re getting a... Read more

When I started this series on creation care I received an e-mail questioning the wisdom of diving into the topic. For many creation care is synonymous with climate change or global warming. This is a political hot potato. Unlike evolution, where we evaluate evidence in existence and consider physical models to interpret the data, the concern with climate change rests substantially on extrapolation into the future. Our models are improving, but far from perfect. This makes extrapolation somewhat risky. Of... Read more