Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
This is a new iteration of a story I’ve used in talks and in earlier informal compositions. The Bible will strike most objective readers as odd, very odd. Why? Because it has so much gross content: sin, arrogance, murder, incompetence, hatred, brazen betrayals, and much more. The startled reader who takes up the book without …
Read More Parable of the capsized cruise shipThis is a revision of a post I first offered a few years ago for the Multnomah University website that maintains Alumni connections. Years ago, long before today’s satellite GPS—global-positioning-systems—the standard way for navigating boats of any size through inland waterways was to combine a set of resources: the boat’s radar, its magnetic compass, …
Read More Navigating by faithFifteen years ago last Tuesday the killings started. In just 100 days almost a million people were killed. Nearly two thousand years ago last Friday God’s Son was killed. The conjunction of the two remembrances in one week was striking to me even though the events are distant from each other in time and scale. …
Read More Genocide and the CrossThe psalmist, David, began Psalm 138 with a resounding peal of praise: “I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart!” In the stanza immediately following he spoke of bowing down toward the Jerusalem center of worship—to the tent where the ark was located. But it wasn’t this temple that stirred his worship, …
Read More The name and word of GodAs I’m traveling myself I recruited Mark Nicklas, a pastor in Beaverton, Oregon, and good friend to share from his own heart for God. As you will read here, we once shared in a 4-month Bible read-through together, sharing with me the pleasure I always find there. I’m pleased to have him fill the post …
Read More I hear voicesI preached a sermon on 1 Corinthians 7 today, calling it “Marriage Matters.” The double entendre was intended. Paul addressed matters of marriage that Christians need to embrace; and the text reminds us that marriage is wonderfully important. The chapter also illuminates the weak status of marriages both in and outside the church throughout human …
Read More Marriage MattersThe heart is mentioned throughout the Bible—used as a term that summarizes the motivations of both God and humanity. Anyone who reads through the Bible very boldly, say in five to six weeks—or less—will be struck by the role the heart plays in God’s conversation with his people. So much so that when I encourage …
Read More Out of the HeartMany in the church of Corinth were enamored with style. And Apollos had style to spare. He seems to have been bright, articulate and alert to the philosophical streams of his day. In a nutshell, Apollos and his offspring are the sort of men every church wants to recruit as a speaker for their annual …
Read More The Wise FoolDr Peter Mead of OM [Operation Mobilization], a Brit living near London and a dear friend, is my first guest contributer. There is a need to offer God’s love in ways that meet people both affectively and effectively—that is, in heart and in practice! I asked Peter to share something on that topic in line with …
Read More Preaching and Affective HermeneuticsI’m writing this at the beginning of December as a nudge: New Year’s day is coming and it’s a great time to launch a Bible read-through! So let me encourage you to pray and plan accordingly. Here’s my unsolicited advice: be very ambitious! A six-week reading of the entire Bible will have a dramatic impact …
Read More Reading as a New Year Delight