Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
Also published on the Cor Deo website. Please post any responses on that site by clicking here Job’s pain pushed him to ask God for a reprieve and also for an explanation. In effect, “What, oh my God, are you doing?!” In the dialogue with his friends Job knew something of what the Bible reader …
Read More God’s agenda in JobThis entry is also found on the Cor Deo site. Please post any comments there (click here). A quote in the Washington Post caught my attention. As hurricane Sandy approached the American eastern seaboard a Washington DC resident remarked, “I emailed my preacher today and said we need a sermon on the wrath of God …
Read More Divine WeatherThis is a repeat entry of the post first offered on the Cor Deo site, here Is it ever okay to complain to God? Is it appropriate to tell him that we think he’s done a terrible job and needs to start getting things right? Should the topic, “Proper forms of complaining in prayer,” be …
Read More Complaining to GodHere is a familiar line of logic in Christian circles: a. Jesus healed virtually everyone who asked to be healed. b. In texts like John 14:14 Jesus tells his disciples to ask him for whatever they might ask. c. We then pray and ask him to heal a dear friend who has stage 3 or …
Read More God’s AgendaThis entry was offered a week ago, on March 26, on the Cor Deo website. Jeremiah, the 7th century BC prophet, had a tough job. God called him to tell his family, friends, and neighbors in Jerusalem how wrong they were. Their views of God, destiny, and personal security were case studies in denial. They …
Read More Jeremiah’s ComplaintMy friend Mark offers a guest-entry this week. He raises an issue we need to hear if we happen to receive some level of status or appreciation from our ministries. It’s not only Paul’s concern – or Mark’s – but ours too. Paul, like the apostle John on the island of Patmos, was privileged to …
Read More The Privilege of ThornsJeremiah’s book is God’s spiritual and moral bristle brush: it always gives my soul a good scrub when I read it. God, as the prophet tells us, will confront sin. Chaos is coming. Why? Because national religious and political leaders all support evil: the evil of ignoring God’s words and ways. Jeremiah promises his readers …
Read More Stability in ChaosI love stability. In fact, as I write this I’m sitting in a brand-name coffee shop in Chippenham, England, sipping coffee from a white mug with its round lady-in-the-middle logo. It’s the same mug I’m familiar with from my regular coffee house near Russell Square in London, and the same mug I’m familiar with from …
Read More A disruptive GodLet me offer a nice bit of theo-jargon here—“anthropopathism”—for anyone who doesn’t already know the term. I’ll then comment on it and invite any responses. An anthropopathism is the emotional and less-well-known cousin of anthropomorphism. The latter term refers to human descriptions of God that use bodily terms—as in the Father having arms or legs …
Read More A key bit of jargonThis weekend I felt like a prophet of gloom and doom as I led retreat participants in a study of Habakkuk. Why Habakkuk? Because this brief oracle and its attached prayer engages the question of God and human sin at an epic level that we all need to grasp. Habakkuk, we remember, was told of …
Read More Rejoicing With Habakkuk