Jesus came to save a dark and sinful world, but it was a world that thought itself glorious. And, to a certain extent, that glory was not a sham. The Lord Himself was tempted by it, when the glory of all the world’s kingdoms was paraded before Him by the devil. The world was grimy …
The Glory of Matter
We are created and shaped in the image of God, and we are the crowning glory of matter. Our first father Adam was fashioned out of the earth, and when we die, we return to that earth. For a time, matter is organized in such a way as to love, think, sing praises to God, …
The Night Before Whatsit
So here is some festive doggerel I wrote some time ago, and which I periodically post at appropriate times of the year — and now it is the turn of 2017. Have a merry Christmas. Comments are open, but only if you want to say merry Christmas back. ‘Twas the night before Christmas and all …
The God Who Stoops
Introduction: The message of the gospel is one that not only brings us forgiveness of sin, but also one that upends all our categories. God unmakes our tawdry pasts, and replaces them with a fresh start, a new birth, a clean slate. But He also intends to unmake our officious assumptions about what all those …
And So “Merry Christmas” It Is
Our most common phrase used to celebrate this time of year is merry Christmas. This is good and right, but like everything else it can be ruined if we try it on autopilot. This means that we are claiming that the characteristic keynote attitude surrounding this holiday is cheerfulness. And this is done, at least …
God of Surprises
We serve and worship the God of surprises. Before Christ came, the Jewish people were expecting God to send His Messiah, and He would deliver His people from the Romans, overcome their enemies, and bring in the resurrection. But God is the God of surprises. He did all this, but not in the way expected. …
The Apostles Creed 21: And the Life Everlasting. Amen.
Introduction: The gospel is given to us so that fellowship with God might be restored. God created us without fault or failing, and yet through our father Adam we all grasped for the fruit, and fell into spiritual death. When we reached for the knowledge of good and evil, we were attempting to seize the …
Which Ditch Beckons
God is the great giver of gifts. When we give things away in imitation of Him, we are learning how to become like Him. When we give things away with strings attached, we are becoming more and more like the devil, growing in the ways of manipulation. We are in the shopping season for Christmas, …
Eating and Drinking Weakness
We must be careful not to slip into the assumptions of modernity, thinking that the principalities and powers, against which we do battle, have somehow disappeared in our enlightened age. And we must also take care not to misunderstand the nature of these principalities and powers, which is always in this world, most respectable. We …
The Apostles Creed 20: The Resurrection of the Body
Introduction: We began by confessing that God the Father is the Maker of heaven and earth. This means, among other things, that the material created order is good. There is nothing wrong with being made of matter, and there is nothing wrong with being finite. The difficulty that has plagued our race since the Fall …