“But of course the black eye would make him look that way whether he was or not. It was a garish, overdone display, about a quarter of an acre, with deep magenta and black and a few isolated blue stripes. That is what had happened when Pastor John Mitchell had extended the right hand of …
Where He Is Supposed to Go
“Many a wife desperately wants her husband to be a ‘spiritual leader,’ but only to the extent that he leads where she thinks he should be going” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 75).
Book of the Month/May 2013
This was truly a refreshing book. Every liberal pastor needs to get and read it as part of the process of becoming evangelical. Moreover, and this is the crucial thing, every evangelical pastor needs to get and read it as part of the process of becoming evangelical. We have gotten to the point where we …
A Blinking Fuel Gauge
“Finally, after repeating several phrases unnecessarily (the sermonic equivalent of a blinking fuel gauge), John decided that he had to wrap up. He didn’t feel any better. He felt like he had just tried to give a tar baby a bath in vegetable oil. Lester didn’t look any cleaner, and John just felt gunked” (Evangellyfish, …
Crossfodder
“The way we live reflects whether or not we know that God has been gracious to us in Christ. We live by grace or we live by works. We live by grace married or we live by works married. If the former, the result is gratitude for the ongoing kindness of God. If the latter, …
How God Hooked Us Up
So here below is a friendly rejoinder to a response to my recent jab at hermeneutical humility. My thanks to Micah Neely for the interaction. The nuances here may seem exquisite to some and very fine, but I actually think a great deal rides on it. It is le big deal, as the French put …
Sacramentals
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #114 “Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?” (1 Cor. 10:18). Paul here points to a covenantal reality that undoes quite a few metaphysical theories about the sacraments. What …
If It’s Not One Edifying Thing, It’s Another . . .
There are so many exciting developments going on here in Moscow that it is hard to keep track of them all. Why, just yesterday, Christ Church rolled out its new app for iPhones and Android, and if that doesn’t get us out of the Idaho woods, I don’t know what can. Just go to the …
Like Everybody Ought to be Doing
“He wasn’t thinking three chess moves ahead like a man in his position really ought to be doing” (Evangellyfish, p. 138).
It Shouldn’t Rinse Off
“Helping is not effeminate. If a man’s masculinity washes off in dishwater, then it was a pretty superficial masculinity” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 73).