Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
In my last essay, we saw how consumer culture has gutted the familial category necessary to understand the church. When a consumer visits a church, he expects another service-provider, such as a hospital or a restaurant. He doesn’t understand the role of men in ministry, and thus, not the role…
First time visitors to our church sometimes express their surprise that children, even the youngest, participate with their parents in the entire worship service. Many congregations created an expectation for the parents (and children) of Sunday School or Child Care being available during the entire worship service or during the…
Quantifying the Love of God “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” ~ John 3:16 This most beloved verse in all the Bible was spoken by the Savior himself to Nicodemus. As…
While The Lord’s Prayer enjoys wide recognition throughout the Church, its richness and depth may be unrealized due to a lesser familiarity with, what I will argue is, its primary inspiration: the Tabernacle. There, Christ’s intent can rightly be discerned. The Prayer’s methodological correction to the Jews and Gentiles wasn’t…
The Consumption of the Covenant Idea of the Church Last time we saw consumerism, having canalized its attitudes in our culture, shapes what the consumer sees when he or she steps into a church. Here, we’ll see how it has eviscerated the covenant and familial ideas necessary to understand the…
The ignoble Jayber Crow can stir your appetite for the noble. It’s the simplicity of a good ol’ Port William boy that builds the charm of the book. In fact, the elitists in Port William receive the harshest blows and severest outcomes, as they should. But before delving into the…
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When an Athenian father introduced his child to the phratry, the child had to go through a purification rite. In various occasions, places also had to be purified. Robert Parker describes the purification rites ( On Greek Religion (Cornell Studies in Classical Philology) , 158-9): “Purification was performed with the…
Romans 12:20: If you enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head. As Pastor Appel has pointed out this morning, food and feasting are weapons of God’s kingdom. Jesus undermines Pharisaical boundary markers…
After further delays and snags, this week we received the deed to our new building. Soon we will mark this milestone ritually by publicly immersing Dr Atwood in Gatorade. As we have said and will continue to say, this is a tremendous gift from God, and we should be very…
The Bride moves from speaking of Dodi as an “apple tree” with delightful fruit and shade to entering Dodi’s “house of wine.” The “house of wine” is a variation of the image of the tree. The apple tree is a place of fruit and shade, a house of fruit. The…
Some reflection on preachers and preaching today at http://www.firstthings.com/ this morning.
The word “shade” is first used in Genesis 19:8, where Lot says that the angels have come under the “shadow” of his roof. The shadow of Yahweh’s wings welcomes, protects, cools those who draw near to his house. To come into shade is to come out of the sun, out…
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