I believe it was Samuel Francis who said that Washington D.C. was run by two political parties — the Evil Party and the Stupid Party. The same thing is true in contemporary ecclesiastical politics. We have the people who are selling out the “faith once delivered,” and then there are those who are clueless about …
Consulting With the Father
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Majestic God, Sovereign Lord, Father of Jesus Christ, we praise You now and bless Your name. Receive our praise as we offer it to You in the power of the Holy Spirit, poured out on the earth in order to make men …
Understanding Your Own Story
All of us, every day, all day long, are constructing a story. In this story that we construct, we are the hero and protagonist—sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly. Accordingly, we interpret the actions of others, weaving them into the story of our lives. If we are the protagonist rightly, then we approach those around us …
Harmonious Table Talk
The Word tells us that when it comes to this meal, we are to wait for each other. This is why we all take the bread at the same moment, and this is why we all drink the wine at the same moment. This is not an exercise in choreography, but rather a weighty theological …
All the Pathways
Our Father and gracious God, we thank You for all the pathways we took this last week, on which You protected us and gave us travel mercies. We thank You for the food before us, and the fellowship around the table. We are grateful for the blood of Jesus, which washed us clean, and which …
Canaries and the Canadian Moose
“At the same time, we are not required to believe the opposite of whatever any unbeliever discovers. Through common grace, many unbelievers have noticed that the sky is blue and that canaries are yellow. This is fine, and faithfulness does not require any hot denials from us. However, the fact that unbelievers think that the …
No Neutrality On the Screen
“Every story is informed by a worldview. And so every movie, being a dramatic story, is also informed by a worldview. There is no such thing as a neutral story in which events and characters are presented objectively apart from interpretation” (Brian Godawa, Hollywood Worldviews, p. 25).
Scapegoats Everywhere
“Almost no one is aware of his own shortcoming. We must question ourselves if we are to understand the enormity of the mystery. Each person must ask what his relationship is to the scapegoat. I am not aware of my own, and I am persuaded that the same holds true for my readers. We only …
Do You See What Abraham Saw?
A central part of what we have here in the Supper is the reality of the koinonia of God’s people. This partaking, this communion, is the reality found in the one loaf of bread. You are called, in the observance of this Supper, to discern the Lord’s body. This does not mean that you are …
Let the Taproot Go Down
You are gathered here as an assembly of those who have been washed in the Word of the Lord, in the waters of baptism. You are the congregation of the saints, the assembly of the righteousness. You have gathered here, not from habit or custom, but rather to hear the same Word that washed you, …