Posts on General

Here are a few lines from various chapters in my new book ‘Indispensable’, available for pre-order from Amazon and scheduled for publication on March 29th. I hope you find these words helpful, and if so, that you’ll tell others about the book so they can benefit too. You may have a weak faith that you wish were stronger, but you have a strong Savior who could not be more powerful. If you are his, it is not because your trust never wavers but because his love never fails. Not everything that Scripture says about Jesus is meant to be easy,... Read this post

“Bring it on!” We probably say ‘Amen’ several times on a Sunday, mostly at the end of a prayer and occasionally in response to something said in a sermon (albeit quietly… we ARE Presbyterians after all!). We probably also deploy ‘Amen’ countless times the rest of the week. What do we mean we say this word? Why does it close all of Paul’s epistles and why do we close our prayers with this word? “Amen” is Near-Eastern and Hebrew in origin and migrated into the Aramaic language, the language Jesus spoke every day. It made its way into the Greek... Read this post

Somebody as intelligent as Jesus would’ve been an atheist if he had known what we know today. —Richard Dawkins, interview with The Guardian At the name of Jesus every knee should bow. —Paul the Apostle Everybody has an opinion on Jesus. He’s unavoidable. He’s so wise and good that even those who don’t confess the faith that he taught want him on their team. What do you make of Jesus? Jesus of Nazareth burst onto the scene around AD 30 in Roman Judea, a small nation dominated by a foreign power and its puppet king. The Jews of Judea were... Read this post

“And they said to me, ‘The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.’ As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, ‘O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open,... Read this post

Central to the discussion of cultural and pastoral issues concerning ministry in the current societal tumult is the matter of identity, specifically in reference to what constitutes identity and on what it is based. This touches on every aspect of human existence and is especially at the core of any discussions regarding human sexuality, even when it is not explicitly noted. ‘Individualism’ is a term first cited by DeToqueville in connection with Enlightenment assertions (broadly considered) about the nature of human personhood, a movement which marks the transition from what Charles Taylor has referred to as the ‘porous self’, in... Read this post

Living On Purpose Proverbs 29:18 – “Without a vision my people perish…” When Paul wrote his beloved friends in Philippi he urged them to be ‘intent on one purpose’ (Phil 2). He knew that a people united in purpose and heart would be a people through whom the Gospel would flourish in the world. These ancient Christians were clearly a people of vision, giving their lives, energy, time, and goods to see the Good News about Jesus spread in their cities and towns and world. They were a people captured by a supreme vision that caused their hearts to rejoice... Read this post

We are only a week away from exclaiming, “Happy New Year!” I know you must be thinking that my forward planning has gotten out of hand and I’m in need of more coffee and a new calendar but bear with me. Advent is almost here. Rejoice! Yes, we’re a week away from the dawn of Advent, the first day of the new year in the Church’s calendar. The Church’s calendar has its own beautiful rhythm that redeems the time in our evil days. It begins with Advent, moves to Christmas and then Epiphany, on into a Lent that begins with Ash... Read this post

Since 9/11 the word ‘evil’ has regained some popular usage in our culture, and the painfully essential revelations about the abuse of children and women by men with power in religious, business, political, and entertainment spheres have reinforced our awareness that evil is real and has to be faced. Such language helps us to name an action and begin to deal with it in a just and proper way. The lynching of an African-American man by the Ku Klux Klan, the slaughter of Jews by Nazis, or the sexual abuse of a child is not merely “bad” or even “criminal”;... Read this post

In the past year, I’ve read with both pleasure and profit Rod Dreher’s book The Benedict Option. Mr. Dreher, a popular conservative columnist and Orthodox Christian, offers many helpful observations in this work and the book is one which needs to be read with care by Christian leaders across the variety of traditions. I nonetheless have significant reservations about the foundational aspect of Dreher’s observations and conclusions in regard to culture and civilization, namely the irreversible collapse of what is commonly referred to as Western Civilization. This ‘culture’, rooted in the fertile soil of both Christian and Enlightenment Europe, is... Read this post