I know it can be more of a thing in climates where things are more closed up for colder winters. But I was surprised to learn that the history of the habit traces back to possibly two ancient origins....
The Apostle Paul concluded his first letter to the Thessalonians with a hope and a request: “May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us.” (5:23-25)...
I’ve spoken to this before that if 100 years ago, the typical American could literally hear maybe a few hundred voices in their lifetime. The largest expansion of their circle came with the advent of radio! With that technological breakthrough, you could listen nightly to stories, the news, and maybe an occasional sports broadcast. Still, the voices that would shape your life, beliefs, dreams and possibly your nightmares were limited to the humans with whom you could physically interact. Plus, the voices on the radio....
The origin of the term dates back to the 1500s, and it acknowledged that the work of living has an additional layer of work that is internal. There are the things that we think of as “going to work,” where we leave our homes, the places where we typically love to be. But the work we need to do in that space, housekeeping, is cleaning, de-cluttering, decorating even — work that typically helps us to enjoy it even more. ...
"You can say that in all societies there has always been a mid-winter festival and that many of the trappings of our Christmas are almost violently pagan. But you come back to the central fact of the day in the quietness of Christmas morning – the birth of God on earth."...
There is a compelling mystery in how people experience communion through pain. Shared sorrow and anguish can transcend class, race, and even politics to bind together people in profound ways — and in the Gospel, we even believe this applies to us and our God!...
The what of thanksgiving — at least recognizes two sides of the coin. If giving thanks is a single act, it is aware of two sides or aspects. There is the “What do I have?” side, and then there is the “Who made that possible?” side. The entire scope of my life includes all that I really do have, but I also need to see that I have not earned, produced, created, or otherwise achieved it. It’s a tension of what I have vs. what do I deserve? And at what cost has God given me all that I have been given?...
What is calmly stated belies a horrifying reality. While the speaker in a mob movie really was referring to plans for killing people, “the business” will leave unseen and unmentioned weeping parents, grieving spouses and orphaned children. And blood that cries out from the ground to the LORD, our God....
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—he remains faithful forever.” Psalm 146:3-6 ...
How much does presence matter? One way we can measure this is by how much you’ve been affected by someone’s absence. The biblical term “holy” means incomparable or irreplaceable....
In this morning's Community Bible reading from Mark 13, it struck me how, ahead of facing persecution and even the threat of death, Jesus urged His disciples to "not be anxious beforehand." Some modern ears could hear in this that Jesus was being tone-deaf and insensitive to His friends' pain or anxieties....
Keep Reading Starting back in the late 90s, we got to start an amazing trend of sending a ministry candidate to graduate school (called seminary, not to be confused with a cemetery). Elliot Grudem was the first candidate that we commissioned, who eventually went on to be ordained and become a church planter. Elliot is still in ministry in Raleigh, NC, and helps to now train young pasto...
Keep Reading Someone can be so laser-focused on a goal or an idea that all they can see is how far short of their desire their current experience is. “That would be great, but this is so far short of that …” This plays out in restaurants every day, at work, at school, and surely in most homes....
Keep Reading Following that, and a week of interactions here with various leaders, officers, volunteers and staff members, our elders have voted to propose a call for Tony to join our team here and be our new shepherding pastor....
Keep Reading In a congregational church (like a Baptist or non-denominational church), the congregation can simply vote. It can be a 51-49 vote even, and if it’s favorable, then that church has a new pastor. In a church with bishops (whether it’s Catholic, Episcopal, or Methodist), the archbishop can simply assign a pastor to a congregation and then that church has a new pastor —...
Keep Reading En route to Strasbourg, John Calvin and his companions had their trip interrupted because of a war. This meant stopping for a night—just a single night—in Geneva. That evening, word got to William Farel that the famed writer of the Institutes of the Christian Religion was staying in town. Farel was the first reformer of Geneva and a pioneer who fought to have the city ...
Keep Reading Hopefully, saying it more precisely, if you think at all about if God wants you to do something, how do you go about securing that information? Many would object that such guidance isn't even possible, and to think that it is possible would render you dangerously arrogant as if you have a direct line to God. Secularists dismiss the input of God out of hand, like a kid's fa...
Keep Reading Is it a hopeful ideal, a dearly held dream out ahead for you? Is it your everyday reality, your bread-and-butter routine? Is it a sensitive or even bitter topic for you because of broken dreams or a broken home in your childhood?...
Keep Reading I know hospitals are typically the kind of place most people prefer to avoid. Even if the reason for a visit is childbirth, my sense is that “going to the hospital” is not at the top of someone’s wish list....
Keep Reading It is likely not realistic to describe political news as a stream—it’s more like a torrential flood. As we get closer to the upcoming elections this fall, the number of voices and the volume with which they speak will likely only increase....
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