We are blessing to partake in this meal weekly, and as we approach it with a careful biblical understanding, we realize that there is a profound Christian mysticism here. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the …
Pastoral Competence
One of the accusations leveled against conservative believers is the common charge that our pastors are not professionally trained or certified, and consequently, when it comes to counseling parishioners, are in way over their heads. Whether the issue is clinical depression, or dealing with childhood abuse, or fighting addiction, or any other number of serious …
A Lenten Meditation for Meat Lovers
Just as Christmas time has its carols, so also penitential seasons must need have their doggerel from Douglas. To wit, and without further ado . . . Sing if you can the affair of the sausages, Brave Zwingli taking on Lenten observances. Honor then Wittenberg’s 95 theses, But Zurich was first with a meat reformation. …
Other Badges of High Honor
I recently wrote on the challenge that ministers face in being faithful to a message that engenders hard opposition, on the one hand, and being the kind of man who has a good reputation with outsiders (1 Tim. 3:7), on the other. Having written all that, this morning I came across a passage in Paul …
Surveying the Text: Chronicles
Introduction Like Samuel and Kings, the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles were originally one book. While it covers much of the same material as Kings, the purpose and point of the book is decidedly different. Written over century after Kings, the book covers down to the post-exilic period, where the Jews were faced with …
Growth and Change
Communities cannot stay healthy unless they are growing, and growth means change. But not all change is healthy, not all growth is healthy. Thistles grow. Morning glory grows. This is something we must think through carefully, and in our thinking we must be mature. There is a vast difference between changing because you are growing, …
The Friendliness of God
We come to this Table as summoned, but we often need to be reminded of the purpose of the summoning. This Table represents and enacts the favor of God. We come to this sacrament to receive God’s grace, God’s favor. This is the place where we are intended to experience the friendliness of God. Does …
The 7 Real Reasons Protestants Can’t Write
Peter Leithart recently set the cat among the pigeons by claiming here and here that Protestants can’t write. He did this as a Protestant, writing, so we really should be dubious from the outset. Among the scholarly responses to this flight of learned fancy, I commend to you Derek Rishmawy and Steven Wedgeworth. But I …
What Will Happen Next
Grace and Peace “At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter” (Rev. 1:19). John is then instructed to write down what he has seen. The book of Revelation has many “time stamps” …
Surveying the Text: Kings
Introduction We begin by noting that our books entitled 1 and 2 Kings were originally one book, just as we saw with the Book of Samuel. The reason for this is plain enough—the break happened with the translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek, and the Hebrews didn’t write down their vowels until 600 …