In a recent article, Anglican theologian, Ben Crosby says something I’ve said elsewhere about the decline of Mainline Protestantism. But – usefully – he does it by focusing on the answers to two critical questions. 1. Do we think that a relationship with Jesus is necessary to achieve certain goods (traditionally, salvation)? If the ‘relationship’ language concerns you, feel free to substitute ‘connected with’, ‘joined to’, or what have you. 2. Do we think that the church is... Read more
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. (The Nicene Creed) Why does the church waste its time worshiping and glorifying God? Let’s face it. Lurking just under the surface, even among people who go to church on a regular basis, that’s the question. It’s reflected in the habits of the average American: In 2019, 34% of Americans attended a religious service at least once or twice a month. That fell to 31% in 2020 and 28%... Read more
Participating in social media, one of the things that has struck me is how often we are forced to share that we have lost our four-legged friends. Over four years ago Hilda, our Gordon Setter became desperately ill, almost instantly after we moved to Tennessee. She stopped eating and, at first, we thought that she was disoriented or sulking. After all, we were staying in a hotel while we settled on a new home, and we were disoriented, too. A... Read more
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, And his kingdom will have no end. There we have it. Christ is judge. And with that bit of information, there are countless people both inside and outside of the church who walk away. Why insist that Christ is judge? And why – of all things – feature it in a Creed that occupies so few lines? Doesn’t this just prove that Christianity is for judgmental and... Read more
Ash Wednesday, like other days in the Christian calendar, is designed to encourage spiritual reflection. After 6 days, Genesis describes God as having sanctified time, not a place. And the liturgical calendar builds on the significance of that act, reminding us all of God’s saving acts and our dependence upon them. But in a culture that is easily bored and longs endlessly for relevance, the nature and purpose of Ash Wednesday is easily lost. So, over the years, we have... Read more
Much of the negative commentary on the revival at Asbury University is wide of the mark. In part, because the critics mistrust the conviction that God can intervene in people’s lives. In part, because they can see nothing but manipulation as the engine of such behavior, and in part, because they rely on Reformed and fundamentalist notions of revival. Revival in the Wesleyan context is very different, both in terms of its history and its theological assumptions. At its best,... Read more
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. The Nicene Creed Moriah Olivia Kathryn Fowler was the beloved daughter of the Rev. Dr. Mark A. Fowler of Evanston, IL. and [the] cherished sister of Ben Fowler of Philadelphia, PA. She was a 2008 graduate of Lampeter-Strasburg High School in Lampeter, PA. She was an active participant in the National Honor Society, Marching Band, Concert Band, and school... Read more
We’ve all been there. We lose the thread of something that was important to us. And we are forced to retrieve, reinvent, or replace the thing we have lost. Often things are never quite the same. We take a job, not because it is a really good fit, but because we were offered money or prestige. We climb the ladder, taking the next big job, and we leave behind what we really liked doing. We get distracted from the core... Read more
Recounting an execution at Auschwitz Concentration Camp where he was a prisoner, Ellie Wiesel writes: Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing… And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And we were forced to look at him at close... Read more
Exhibition lays bare Church of England’s links to slave trade The news that the Church of England had links to the slave trade comes as no surprise. Anyone who knows even a little bit about the history of slavery knows that everyone from the Prince Regent down made money off of slavery. It was a global phenomenon. Though slavery’s predicates varied, civilizations around the world had practiced it for millennia, and its tentacles spread through human history in tragic, strange... Read more
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