Talking Points About Gay Marriage
The president has come out in favor of gay marriage. What should we say about that? Others have offered helpful insight about how to think about homosexuality, how it fits…
April is National Poetry Month
That's not the best title for a blog, is it? I wonder how many people might see the title and click away to a different website because they're "just not…
Noll’s Hopefulness
In the previous post I quoted some lines from Mark Noll’s new book Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind. I think this book is worth careful study and thorough discussion by Christians called to academia. It is also worth a close read by others who value the life of the mind.
Given the negative tone of Noll’s earlier landmark book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, it is encouraging that he is now more hopeful. Here is an important line from his new book’s postscript, “How Fares the ‘Evangelical Mind’?”
Thoughts on Marriage from the Unique Vantage Point of the Father/Officiant
This past Saturday, August 13th, I had the joyous privilege of performing the wedding of our eldest son Dan and his bride Kelsey. The entire day flowed as a series of showers of grace. As the father, I wanted to soak in all the little moments that wove a tapestry of blessing. But as the officiant, I wanted to hold it together to say the things that needed to be said and to preach a message to exalt the wonders of marriage, the goodness of God, and the blessing of knowing this God as Savior and Lord.
Christ, Our Passover
The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed piece last week raising the question, “Is Passover the New Christmas?” The article’s author, Diane Cole, the book columnist for the Psychotherapy Networker, pointed out that more and more non-Jewish people are celebrating Passover. Partly due to the rise of interfaith marriages or the universality of the theme of liberation (which she interpreted only as the political variety), these celebratory meals, called Seders, centered around unleavened bread and four glasses of wine, are becoming more and more popular.
The problem with church
I wrote this on a Saturday night while trying to think of an excuse for not going to church the next morning. I don’t like church. And I’ve finally figured out why. There are people there!
They mess up my intimacy with God. They arrive late, leave early, don’t turn off their cell phones, sing off
Pagan Worship
Am I the only one who tires quickly (after only the second repeat) of praise songs that go on and on and on and on and….? You get my point. I find it ironic that we live during a time when truly masterful worship songs are being composed and disseminated but also at a time when some worship experiences seem far from Christian.