“‘Soft power’ is wielded by soft cultures, usually because they lack the will to maintain hard power. Can you remain a soft power for long? Maybe a generation or two. But a soft culture will, by its very nature, be unlikely to find the strength to stand up to a sustained assault by blunter, cruder …
His Canterburyness
“The last Archbishop of Canterbury but one, Dr. Ramsey, appeared not to realize this when, to my amazement, at the end of a performance of Godspell, he rose to his feet and shouted: ‘Long live God,’ which, as I reflected at the time, was like shouting, ‘Carry on eternity’ or ‘keep going infinity.’ The incident …
Warring With Peace
“When we eat and drink at His table, with a servant’s heart, we are not attending a gloomy memorial, sitting in the dark, feeding on a dry cracker. We are engaged, by the mercy and grace of God, in the extension of Christ’s kingdom. We are conquering the world through sitting down in the peace …
Let Us Hope So
“It is with the saints here as it is with the boughs of trees in a storm. You shall see the boughs beat upon one another, as if they would beat one another pieces, as if armies were fighting; but this is but while the wind, while the tempest lasts. Stay awhile and you shall …
All You Who Are Breathing
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Praise the Lord, Praise Him in the sanctuary. Praise Him in the heaven of His power. Praise Him for all He has done, For all His mighty acts. Praise Him in line with His excellent greatness. Praise Him with brass; Praise Him …
Really Catty
The kingdom of God is not a way of being good in the first place. It is a way of forgiveness, which means that other things, far less respectable, have to be addressed first. Once there was a young girl in junior high school who approached her mother one night about a problem she had …
A Beautiful Garden and a Dragon to Fight
The history of the human race is a story of growth and maturation. This is what it was intended to be from the beginning, whether there had ever been any sin or not. The rebellion (and subsequent repentance) of our first parents complicated the course of this story enormously, but it did not alter the …
Reformed or “Reformed”?
Green Baggins is a web site critical of the FV. While some of the standard issue misunderstandings are on display there, and the language of heresy is unfortunately employed too quickly for my taste, nevertheless there is an obvious personal and theological integrity, displayed in a willingness to correct things once they have been worked …
Here and There
Nancy has some really great suggestions on sabbath feasting. Tim Bayly continues to write helpfully on what I consider to be one of the central doctrinal issues for the church in the coming century — the gender issues, all of them. Not all of the genders, all of the issues. And check out the vintage …
Good News and Bad News
A lawless culture is at war with more than just the “rules.” Antinomianism likes to posture and say that it is simply against tiresome restrictions. But the cultural effects of lawlessness touch far more than just the idea of law. When lawlessness has run its course, it has demolished the very idea of forgiveness. Of …