The ideal church is like delicious, instant coffee. It doesn’t exist. Problems in church are not only realities, they are dead certainties given the fact that all churches unavoidably involve the inconvenience we dislike most — selfish people. We know from St. Paul’s letters that even the first churches were troubled by some serious problems. And before I go any further, let me acknowledge that there are limits to what kinds of shortcomings we should […]
Anna Carter Florence Rehearsing Scripture: Discovering God’s Word in Community Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018. Pp. 215, paperback, $16.99 ISBN 9780802874122. In Rehearsing Scripture, Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence (Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary) offers a compelling vision for how the Church can read scripture afresh by adopting it as a script for performance. With personal examples and biblical commentary, Florence encourages her readers to join the “Repertory Church,” a place where […]
In John 15:1-17, Jesus talks about “bearing fruit” and “friendship.” This is a reflection on the meaning of “bearing fruit” in Scripture, the ways in which John innovates a relationship between fruit, friendship, and death in this passage, and an argument about the counter-intuitive places I think we should look for friendship in Scripture. Bearing Fruit in Scripture The Man and Woman in the garden are given the vocation to “be fruitful and multiply” at […]
What is it about films like The Revenant and 127 Hours that grips us so much? One of my buddies (J. D. O’Brien) out here in the Twin Cities is a local filmmaker. His first major film was a documentary called Out in the Cold, which you can check out on Amazon Prime. Out in the Cold looks at homelessness in the Twin Cities in the middle of winter (J.D. and his buddy actually spend a week “out […]
What is the image of God? As I thought and read about this I came through very interesting concepts that are worth sharing. Let’s start with Paul’s statement of the image of God. Colossians 1:15 states that Jesus is the image of God. Now, Jesus was not simply human, he was fully God and fully human. Then, if He is the image of God, then we, who are only human must be something else. If […]
I have been learning about how to improve myself in regards to building habits, setting goals, and achieving goals recently. I just got engaged almost a month ago now and I realized that if I want to be a reliable and competent husband, and just a reliable and competent person in general, then I must work at it. Natural and unchecked tendencies can only carry a person so far, such as a natural sense of […]
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 […]
The Question With the ex-vangelical movement on the rise and evangelical church attendance in decline, the question is often raised: Is evangelical theology, particularly the conservative evangelical theology that drives writers like Wayne Grudem to write articles like “Why voting for Donald Trump is a morally good choice,” and “Why Building a Border Wall is a Morally Good action,” toxic? This brand of theology is predominately driven by older white Protestants, as only 11 percent of the US population is […]
In the Gospel According to St. Mark, Jesus introduces and institutes the Eucharist Feast in very few words: And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take, this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood […]
In the Gospel According to St. Mark, Jesus introduces and institutes the Eucharist Feast in very few words: And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take, this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood […]
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