Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
What do we want from a church service? Jesus may catch our attention here if we notice the single reported sermon he preached to his home “church”—the synagogue in Nazareth—in Luke chapter four. But first let’s consider our own preferences in church worship songs and sermons. What about singing? Not the melodies but the words. …
Read More Jesus at ChurchIsaiah 40:3, as cited in Matthew 3, was fulfilled by the ministry of John the Baptist. Isaiah promised a bulldozer of a man to build a proper road for the Messiah, “crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” In John’s day the imagery of carving a proper road …
Read More WinnowingI’m revisiting Peter Sanlon’s helpful study, Augustine’s Theology of Preaching. One sentence caught me: “Augustine describes this life as a journey traveled by the affections” (p. 84). This link of outward journey and inner affections is what Pete offers as Augustine’s “interiority”—the realm of the soul’s longings and desires—that shapes “temporality.” This statement reverses what …
Read More A Journey of the HeartWhat should we make of the WWJD movement—What Would Jesus Do?—of the 90’s? Proponents of that movement updated Charles Sheldon’s book, In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? They also borrowed from The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis of the 16th century. I’ve been a skeptic. My hesitation has nothing to do with …
Read More WWJD RevisitedThis entry is shared with the Cor Deo site. Please offer any responses there. Thanks! My friend is an evangelist, a global Christian activist who offers the gospel whenever and wherever he finds opportunity. After any restaurant meal, for instance, he’ll fold the tip in a gospel tract. His voicemail message offers a gospel invitation …
Read More EvangelismIf a curious reader were to read the entire Bible in a month or so he’d notice that the faith expressed there seems oddly out of touch with the forms of faith common today. It’s as if some folks are editing the faith to help Jesus succeed. Let’s listen to such a possible meeting between …
Read More Helping JesusI’m in transit from Portland to the UK right now, at the Chicago O’Hare airport, set to finish up my blog for the week. But first I read Peter Mead’s new entry at the Cor Deo website and immediately decided to invite readers here to read what he shares there and allow me to defer …
Read More More than a manualWe’ve all seen occasional comics of a robed and bearded street preacher with a placard sign that reads, “Repent, the end is near!” Usually there’s a punchline of some sort that makes the prophet of doom seem silly. Yet, as with most caricatures, there’s a kernel of truth in the mix. And, I suspect, there’s …
Read More Getting Repentance RightClive Cowell makes his debut on Spreading Goodness by offering a reflection stirred by a posting by Peter Mead on January 4 (a second offering by Peter was posted on February 15). Clive is a dear friend who presently serves as the Executive Director of the Bible Institute of Hawaii. Read and enjoy! My …
Read More The beauty of divine conversationIt is my pleasure to introduce a second guest entry by Dr Peter Mead of OM, in London. His first posting, published here on January 4—“Preaching and Affective Hermeneutics”—was a compelling call to engage any given Bible text with a lens of spiritual and personal affectivity in order to capture and then to offer the …
Read More Preaching and the Great Commandment