This is a time of year when many people are decorated up in frightening ways, running around saying frightening things, trying to scare other people. But take heart; the election will be over on Tuesday. Coincidentally, today is also Halloween, when many are trying to frighten people in other ways. But how are we to …
How Forgiveness is Like Water
Sin begins with the imagination. In order to work ourselves loose from the world as God made it, we have to imagine that it is a different kind of place than it is. John Bunyan once wisely said that the sinful soul “entertains the sin by its imagination.” He adds that “sin thus attacks at …
Feeding On, Eating With
The ancient prophets looked forward to the time of the Messiah, and one of the ways they did this was through the imagery of the messianic banquet. Isaiah in particular describes the mountain of the Lord, on which the best wine would be served, and the table would be covered with the best meat (Is. …
Callused or Tender
Father, we ask You to forgive our trespasses, and we ask You to convict our nation of those trespasses so that we might confess them fully and heartily. We confess on behalf of our people that we have assumed that a bad memory is the same thing as a clean conscience, and that a callused …
All of Christ for All of Life
When Adam sinned, and the human race fell into a condition of sin, the name of that condition was death. God had told Adam that the day he ate of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, he would surely die. But he didn’t die physically that very moment. So what …
Already Accepted
We gather at this Table because we are accepted in Christ Jesus. We cannot pay in order to come here, and we cannot earn an invitation in any way. This Table is a table which is based entirely and solely on grace. This is why we can eat and drink—grace from top to bottom, and …
The Scalpel of Affliction
Father, we are taught the true nature of our sinfulness by many means, but among those means we experience the scalpel of afflictions, as administered by Your wise and steady hand. We pray that as we confess our sins now, we will do so as those who have learned from this what we ought to …
Talebearing and the Teenager
For you young people, this part of your life is a white water stretch of the river. And one of the most treacherous rapids that you will need to navigate is the challenge presented by the sins of others, and by the glaring sins of others. When do you keep silent, and when do you …
The Gift of Faith and Joy
If there is any good in this life, it is enjoyed as the gift of God. If God gives the gift, and the capacity to do more than just hold that gift in your hand, then joy is possible. This is true of our physical life, our physical food, and it is true of our …
Without Holiness
Father, we acknowledge that You are the holy God, and that we have somehow believed that we could rest in Your favor without being holy, and without appealing to the name of Jesus Christ, the only name capable of making men holy. We confess that our nation thinks of itself as amiable and well-meaning, and …