In my last post, I quoted a line from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, an English poet who lived between the years of 1844 and 1889. The poem is so magnificent, I felt compelled to reproduce “God’s Grandeur” in its entirety. If some of the lines seem a little dense, try this commentary for [...]
When Jesus burst out of the tomb, what happened? What does it mean for us?
This past month, believers of all kinds, in their own ways, celebrated the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. The question I’d like to ask today, is what exactly happened when Jesus came out of the tomb alive? By saying this, I [...]
Gracious Lord, whose generous hand is open to every living thing: send forth your Spirit according to your promise, that, in the overflow of your liberality, all creatures would find new life, and the earth itself experience rebirth, through the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the [...]
O God, who deemed the creation exceedingly good, richly supplies us with all things to enjoy, and through the raising of Jesus from the dead infuses the world with life ever new: awaken in your people an undreamt-of love for life, loosen the shackles of cynicism and jaded despair and lighten upon us the daybreak [...]
The Biblical discussion of the concepts of “flesh” and “spirit” are highly problematic for several reasons. “Flesh” is one of the grand enemies of the Christian, along with the “world” (another problematic term) and the “devil” (yet another problematic term…). Hence the Christian must “war against the flesh.” As long as this remains theoretical, no [...]
The Lord be with you
(All) and also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
(All) We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
(All) It is right to give thanks and praise.
It is indeed right, it is our duty and our joy,
at all times to give you thanks and praise,
for [...]
In the first part of this series I discussed my desire to take some time in this Pentecost season to give extended reflection to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. In this post, I would like to back track a little and simply give some general thoughts on the path I would like [...]
Following my last post concerning Pentecost, I want to spend some of this season following Pentecost offering meditations on the Holy Spirit. Specifically, the direction I want to go is developing a spirituality and an understanding of life in the Spirit that accords with the primary event of Christian faith, the resurrection of Jesus from [...]
An excerpt from “Saved By His Life” – a new paper I am working on:
Since the Protestant Reformation, “justification by faith” has been the articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae—the article by which the church stands or falls. Stressing the significance of this doctrine, Martin Luther once said,
“[Justification is] the chief article of Christian [...]
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one [...]
