“Not one of us” (9:49). I am not interested in hindering others, but I am interested in strengthening the church: healthy, vital, vibrant, whole. The church is strengthened when we…
Which of them would be the greatest. I don’t even know where to begin. Maybe at your high school graduation, there wasn’t any category, Most Likely to Succeed, but everybody…
We have the teaching. We have the promise. Henceforth, we have ministry. In the early seventies, a German theologian of some note wrote a book: The Church in the Power…
Here it is, two weeks later, and we’re still talking about Easter, bright with joy. Christ is alive! The tomb stands empty to the sky. It’s good to talk about…
The lectionary that several denominations use—the order of Scripture readings for the year—is organized in such a way that, around this time of year each year, we hear Jesus speaking…
We want—and, indeed, need—time for ourselves. Self-care is important! And Christ shows us a model of sacrificial living that may well feel exhausting: when do I get time for me,…
No one gets to Jesus in just the same way. Am I going to tell Jesus, “Lord, that’s not how I’d do it”? If people bring someone to Jesus in…
It pays to know some history. It was the American philosopher and Harvard professor George Santayana who wrote, back in 1905, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to…
I suppose we each have a picture of how the church ought to be, including this little congregation of it. No one’s picture looks just like the church as it…
Over these several weeks since the end of the Christmas season, we’ve been exploring the first part of what Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth. That was an exciting…