Who likes talking about sin? I mean other than the preachers who you see on TV, who for whatever reason seem to really love banging their fists on their pulpits and making a big deal about how terrible we all are, nothing will quiet a room quite like saying “let’s talk about sin.” But my experience has been that if you’re going to understand a person’s theology, you almost have to start at how they unde…
In Richard Foster’s book, Life With God, he posits that one of The Bible’s major thematic threads is God’s message to His people, “I am with you. Will you be with me?” Each of us is, in one form or another, answering this question several times each day. We answer “yes” when we open ourselves to the eternal love and grace of God, living as disciples of Christ. We answer “no” when we reject the love found in Chr…
Our students have begun to find me annoying for any number of reasons. I am a terrible Ripstik Soccer player. Sometimes I forget to pick up supplies for a game I promised them I would play. But I have had a question that I have asked again and again and again that if often met with eye rolls. “What is God up to you in your life?" The frequency with which I ask this question of students a…
Everybody knows the Christmas story, or at least the part about how the baby arrives. Less familiar to many people, I think, is who this baby turns out to be and how he really matters. In one of those prophecies from Isaiah that sound a lot like Jesus to Christian ears, the prophet says: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named W…
Well – here we are – ready to celebrate Christmas. Or more likely, in my case, probably running around like crazy, trying to finish up all of the last minute details… I don’t know what it’s like at your house, but somehow, no matter how much I plan, or how early I start – nevertheless I find myself with gifts still unpurchased (not to mention unwrapped – and don’t even mention the ones I had planned to make…
