I’m currently reading a book by Rankin Wilbourne entitled “Union With Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God.” Rankin keeps quoting the early church fathers as a way of calling attention to the emphasis on union with Christ in Scripture and in the souls of those who are obsessed with Scripture. As I absorb […]
Tomorrow Jesus stoops to wash my feet. Friday Jesus drinks the wrath. Jesus is adamant about my atonement and my adoption. Sunday Jesus rises from the grave so that He can eternally enjoy the oneness with me that He purchased 3 days prior. It is true. It is staggering …God loves His enemies and does […]
The older I get the more I see how hard it is for humans to get along. We fought with our siblings and neighborhood kids growing up, and we thought we’d outgrow our self-serving assumptions and temper tantrums …but as adults we are arguably worse! At least when we were kids we genuinely believed we […]
Excepts from “Expertise v. Wisdom” by Denis Haack We live, it seems to me, in a world infatuated with experts, overwhelmed with knowledge and data, and glad it is all only a click or two away. Wisdom, on the other hand, seems to have receded into the background. For most of human history when people […]
“Whether we like it or not, the moment we confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are at the same time a member of the church. Even if we do not permit our name to be placed on a church roll, or decline to identify ourselves with a particular congregation. Even if we […]
I’ve noticed that people are easily unsettled. We are concerned, bothered, offended, and disturbed by the people around us. The statements and comments made by coworkers, fellow church members, neighbors, and instagram followers pierce our hearts and weigh heavy on our minds. Clearly we have not lost the capacity to care deeply about, and become […]
Imagine you are Ethan the Ezrahite (author of the final poem in Book III of the Psalms). …Ethan – that famous sage in the entourage of wise men – along with Heman, Calcol, and Darda – in the days of King David and King Solomon. This Ezrahite saw firsthand the glory of the Davidic empire! […]
Is “Telling the Truth: The Gospel As Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale” by Frederick Buechner. Fred says that the Gospel is “the fairy tale that is too good not to be true.” [Selah] Fred says that the truth is “high and wild and holy, but preachers often reduce homiletics to apologetics. Preachers exchange the fairy-tale […]
On Christmas Eve a stranger pulled up in front of Raven Hill. It was approx. 30 minutes before Lessons & Carols was scheduled to start, so I thought that perhaps it was someone who had seen an advertisement for the event and had decided to arrive early to socialize and get to know people ahead […]