I was able to preach a sermon at Mill City Church (in Northeast Minneapolis), which is the church I call home. My sermon was part of a series on the Minor Prophets called The Books We Don’t Read, referring to the fact that many people in our churches don’t hardly read the minor prophets. My sermon in the series was on the prophet of Amos, specifically looking at the way that injustice is viewed as...
Recently my new article on Ephesians 5.18–21 was published in the Polish Catholic Theological Journal, Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia. The article is called “Filled with the Spirit: Wine and Worship in Levitical Light (Ephesians 5.18–21).” In this piece I try to make sense of a number of intriguing issues related to Ephesians 5.18–21 in its literary context which, in my opinion, have not been addressed in a fully convincing manner. This piece represents something of a signpost...
I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking about Paul’s language in 1 Corinthians concerning the body, the temple, and the Holy Spirit. The primary texts are fairly well-known for Bible readers. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:15–17 ESV) “Flee from sexual immorality. Every...
In my previous blog posts on Haggai, I discussed a few of the different expectations that the people of Israel held concerning the presence of Yahweh as they followed his command to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Their expectation for Yahweh to show up in a powerful way upon the Temple’s completion and dedication, an expectation based on his original glorious indwelling of Solomon’s Temple as told in scripture in 1 Kings 8, was unfulfilled....
In a previous blog post on Haggai, I discussed one of the expectations the people of Israel held concerning Yahweh’s (the personal name of God) powerful action on their behalf, an expectation that included their current state of economic affairs. Upon the obedience of his command to rebuild the Temple, they expected to participate, once again, in the covenant blessings and all the economic abundance these promised blessings entailed. This expectation, coupled with the expectation that...
As a good Protestant I was always taught to be grateful for, but suspicious of the first, fiercely devoted to the second, and un-threatened by the third. When Tradition is found wanting it can be remolded; it is malleable where the other two are not. Scripture is cast in stone. It does not change and therefore should not be changed. History is… history. It doesn’t exactly change either, but where its claims and interpretations run...
Was Jesus always nice? OK, so it’s not the deepest theological question we’ve ever tackled here at The Two Cities. But it’s an important one. Because, above all, the world expects Christians to be nice. Forget about holiness, evangelism and social justice. Just be nice. But if Christians bear any resemblance to Christ (and we should), we won’t always be nice—at least not by man’s standard. Spend a little time with your Bible and you’ll...
“How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. “ The rhythmic scrape of your leather sandal griping the rocky soil beneath them continues as you head up another hill. Also keeping your march in time is the heavy breathing of the donkey next to you, your pack carrying companion on your...
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