Have you ever heard of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Appearing in chapter six of The Book of Revelation, only one of them was named, Death. Tradition named the other three War, Famine and Pestilence. Just think of them. War. Famine. Pestilence. Death. Whoa. Our attention is seized by the imposing, commanding appearance of […]
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A bill recently passed in the Kansas House would allow any individual, business or religious group with “sincerely held religious beliefs” to refuse services, facilities, goods, employment or employment benefits related to any same-sex marriage or domestic partnership. It’s called “The Religious Freedom Protection Act” and I have friends who are on both sides of […]
Can you remember Christmas Eve? It was only a few weeks ago. But for most of us life Christmas zooms into our lives and then silently disappears in the rear-view mirror as we rocket on. And we hardly think about it. But I’m still thinking about Christmas Eve because I know how difficult and despairing […]
This is the fifth of five blog posts exploring the question “what is the Gospel?” Not meant to be an exhaustive study, just a relevant one, we’ve looked at a number of New Testament passages. It might be useful, in thinking about the Gospel, to ask what is it for, or what it is the […]
This is the fourth of five blog posts asking the question “what is the Gospel?” We looked at passages from Paul, Peter and the writer of Hebrews. But do we have any good indication what Jesus himself understood the Gospel to be? Yes, we do. The Gospel of Luke contains a story that gives us […]
(This is the third of five posts on what is the Gospel of Jesus, the first two being “Merry Christmas. And…What Is the Gospel?” and “Pay Close Attention to What Matters Most”) What do we think the Gospel is? And what difference does it make for us? Some of us who think of ourselves as […]
First century Jews who became Christians in the first years of the Church experienced enormous pressure to renounce Christ and return to Judaism. A letter was written to encourage them by clarifying the nature of Christ, his ministry and what it meant for them. We know that work as the Letter to the Hebrews. The […]
It is way too easy to decry the excessive materialism of the way our society celebrates Christmas. It is true that the genuine and historical story of Christmas is overwhelmed by cultural surges of marketing and gift-giving, of entertaining and indulgence, of sentimentality and the reality that we now live in a society of many […]
Over some years I had the privilege of spending quite a bit of time with Brennan Manning. He used to tell us something like this: some days all heaven wants from us is to show up and shut up. Brennan understands the dynamics of authentic spirituality and human frailty better than most. He recognizes that—no […]
So here’s how the story goes. A man becomes seriously ill to the point it’s life-threatening. His sisters are worried. They send an urgent message to a family friend who is a phenomenal teacher and healer. Come quickly. Please, it’s urgent. He doesn’t. The man dies. For four days Lazarus is dead. Since so few […]
