In the medieval church, there was a sharp distinction between the worshiping clergy and the spectators found in the laity. The “action” was up front, behind what was called the rood screen, and the people of God assembled to watch—well, mostly to listen. They were permitted to be in the presence of something big, they …
Gathered It All to His Chest
“Jesus died and in that death He embraced the pollutions of a very polluted world. He took onto Himself the wrath and anger of God, and He did this so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. He gathered up a world full of hatred, adultery, treachery, rape, murder, envy, genocide, religious …
Poetic Ministry
“The great pressure on us today is to be productive managers. But the need of the church is for prayerful, spiritual poets. I don’t mean (necessarily) pastors who write poems. I mean pastors who feel the weight and glory of eternal reality even in the midst of a business meeting; who carry in their soul …
Growth From the Outside
“But man’s life, being finite, does not have its ground within itself and therefore is not sufficient unto itself, either ontologically or developmentally. In other words, it needs something extraneous to itself to be itself and to become itself more and more; that is, to grow” (Volbeda, The Pastoral Genius of Preaching, p. 34).
Cultural Engagement in the CREC
It is commonly known that people who worship together over an extended period of time tend to view the outside world in similar ways, and this is also true of CREC churches. Given the important role that political and cultural issues have in our era, it may be helpful to make a few comments. Cultural …
The Grave of Exile
INTRODUCTION: Under continued pressure from Saul, David is forced to leave Judah and take refuge with Achish, who was the king of Gath. He had complained in the previous chapter that certain men were trying to force him to serve other gods (1 Sam. 26:19) which he was unwilling to do. He was willing, however, …
Fussers and Ladder Kickers
We have a strong religious tendency to get things backwards. We have a strong religious tendency to keep things exclusive. We have a strong religious tendency to want to climb up on the high platform of grace, and then to kick the ladder away, so that the riff raff cannot follow us up. This tendency …
Tend To Your Own Knitting
One of the great Pauline principles we have to be reminded of on a regular basis is the principle called “minding your own business.” As soon as we move away from a realm of life that we are not directly responsible for (as in, our own job, our own family, our own sanctification), and we …
A Woman’s Body and Fatherlessness
We have been told, over and over again, that abortion is all about “a woman’s right to choose.” The pro-life comeback has been — correct as far as it goes — that this leaves the child’s right to life (and therefore the child’s right to choose) out of the equation. This is a valid argument, …
Medicinal Abstractions Don’t Heal Anyone
“Two inches of snow on a dung heap can look pretty nice, but it doesn’t address the deeper problem. So if we sinful men go left, we sin on the left. If we go right, we sin on the right. If we become atheists, we sin there. If we become Jehovah’s Witnesses, we sin there …