As we continue to celebrate Advent, a central part of our task is to avoid the common idols of this time of year, and sentimentalism is chief among them. The Christmas story is told in Scripture in some detail, and as we celebrate this story, some of our lapses into idolatry can be identified by …
Pentecost Sunday 2006
Introduction: It is characteristic of the Holy Spirit that He draws attention away from Himself. Sometimes, the Spirit of God is neglected because of a deficiency in theology. But other times this happens precisely because He is active and doing His work. The Text: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will …
Ascension Sunday 2006
Introduction: One of the great difficulties that modern Christians have is that we do not let the two testament inform one another. Because of this neglect on our part, we miss many visions of coming glory that the Old Testament prophets set before us. The Text: I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one …
The Holy Spirit Is Not Your Private Satan: Easter 2006
We gladly testify to the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was crucified, died, and was buried. He came back from the dead on the third day, raised in the power of the Spirit, and He did so in full accordance with the Scriptures. This we confess, and confess with staggered joy. But …
Holy Friday Service
Just got back from a joint Holy Friday service with Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church. It was glorious, and the homily was given by Peter Leithart. I bring this up because it is here, and you really need to read it.
Palm Sunday 2006
Introduction: We are seeking to recover a Christian sense of time, and in some sense this means a recovery of the Church year. But though we are seeking to escape a secularized calendar, we must never forget that we got this secular calendar (in part) because of a reaction away from the problem of “saints …
Easter and Re-Creation
God has given us a holy day every week, on the first day. Each week we are reminded that we are living in the new heavens and the new earth. Each week we remember that just as God rested after His work of creation, so Jesus Christ rested after His glorious work of re-creation. In …
Merry Christmas 2005
Just a few personal notes about a wonderful Christmas. This year, because Christmas fell on the Lord’s Day, we had to spread our normal activities out over a couple days, in order to make room for two worship services within eighteen hours. We normally have a Christmas Eve service, which we did this year, but …
Christmas Sunrise
And the evening and the morning were the eighth day. We should not be surprised at the pattern of darkness and then light, a pattern which we see not only in the creation of the world, but also in the re-creation of all things. And the beginning of the re-creation of all things is what …
Christmas Eve Prayer
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, amen. Our Father and God, our gracious Lord, we gather before You now as a grateful people. We have been forgiven all our sins against You, and we have been given the gift of forgiving others their sins against us. We thank …