Jesus’ Job Description
Friday, October 2nd, 2009Preparing for a worship service at a retirement home tomorrow and the text is Mark 10. The first sentence of the paragraph caught my attention. Some folk think of Jesus as a political revolutionary. Some as a social reformer. So think of him as a good moral example. Often we use the term ‘Messiah’ but [...]
A Little Test
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009I have a question for you. Can you read the above quote and not think “compromise”? It is an important question and it has nothing to do with Mark Driscoll or Matt Chandler, it has more to do with the success of the gospel. Are you optimistic about the progress of the gospel or are [...]
These Two Paragraphs Have Nothing To Do With Each Other
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009Haven’t done one of these in a while so here goes. According to Barna Research, the percent of female pastors in Protestant churches has doubled in the past ten years. This isn’t surprising but I think it does need a bit of unpacking. First, it is an increase in percentage, not necessarily raw numbers. That [...]
Song of Songs and Grow Up
Thursday, May 14th, 2009There has been some flap lately about preaching the Song of Songs. Some younger pastors, it has been said, have treated the book almost pornographically. Older preachers are calling for restraint and dignity when handling this inspired poem. Well, I don’t know about that. I haven’t listened to those sermons so I’ll just let the [...]
Making Bricks
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009In my vain imaginings, I picture Moses writing Genesis, the beginning of his writings, just after the golden calf incident in Exodus 32. Israel built an image of their ‘god’, but it wasn’t the right God! What they needed at that point was a theology lesson. They needed to know who their God was and [...]
What’s a Day For?
Thursday, January 1st, 2009Is time measurement arbitrary? That is, is the division of trips around the sun into years just something we do? And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and [...]
Tolerance 09
Thursday, January 1st, 2009I have had a “bad” stomach for about 20 years now. I remember in 1988 after I returned from England how by 10AM my stomach would hurt so bad that I’d have to go buy a carton of milk to get it to settle down. I couldn’t figure out what was causing it. I’d have [...]
God at Work in the World
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008John Piper has blogged on the book Peace Like A River so a few things are sure to happen: It will sell a bunch quickly. Amazon reviews will greatly multiply. Bloggers will review it to pieces and most will find it wonderful. Someone (or a few someones) will give one away on their blog. Such [...]
Gospel Across Culture
Thursday, October 9th, 2008I am not a fan of hip hop. It sounds like noise to these 1970s-trained, suburban ears. However, I recognize that it is a large part of a predominantly young, black culture that I’m not part of. A lot of hip hop has been violent, misogynist gangsta music. Pour that kind of influence into a [...]
Gimme That Ole Time Civil Religion
Thursday, August 28th, 2008This is really a follow up to Whither Fundamentalism. More from Wood’s book on O’Connor. The history of the thing is what gets me. Sometimes we can look back at the 1950s with nostalgia, nearly all of America went to church. Surely those were better times. Family values reigned on TV: Ricky and Lucy, though [...]
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