Some churches and their congregants strive to “live biblically”, and while this is perhaps a noble sounding mantra, it can also lead us down a dangerous path far from the Christ-following faith towards which we are called. The concept of living biblically is one where Christians reestablish a rule structure in-line with specific commands in […]
Tag: Jesus
On Church Worship
During this year in which I have been pondering the Church Calendar and its seasons, I’ve also been thinking a bit about church worship services in general. How do we keep our worship practices rooted in the Universal Church, which receives direct nourishment from the Holy Spirit of God? One of the arguments against the […]
On Going It Alone
Much of society has come to celebrate the role of the individual. We love stories that revolve around the solo renegade, the superhero, the maverick, the main character. Meanwhile, the ideals of community and togetherness, while not necessarily destained, rarely receive the same spotlight treatment. Institutions like churches often struggle in this environment. That is, […]
On Rest Days
Let me begin this post with a bit of a personal confession: My last post was about a month ago and at that time I intended to take only one week off from writing this current blog series. I’d like to say that my unintended, more lengthy pause from writing was a needed rest period, […]
On the Triune God
Wedged between the festival season of the liturgical calendar and Ordinary Time is a Sunday devoted to the concept of the Holy Trinity. This day acts as a theological seam between the two halves of the Church Year. The Holy Trinity is the concept that God has been revealed to us in three distinct ways, […]
On the Expansive Gospel
The season of Easter ends with a celebration of Jesus’ ascension. It’s another mountaintop moment of the Church Year and a fitting transition into Pentecost and the mindset that we should live with during the long stretch of Ordinary Time that lies ahead. The various gospel narratives all handle the last moments of Jesus’ earthly […]
On Clarification
The liturgical three-year cycle of gospel readings centers on the synoptic gospel texts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Meanwhile, the gospel account attributed to the apostle John gets spread across all three years, with particular devotion designated annually during the seven-week season of Easter. Among the varying gospels, John is the most debated—from who really […]
On the Risen Jesus
The resurrection stories present quite a mysterious Jesus—familiar in so many ways to the Jesus we hear about before the crucifixion and yet often unrecognized by even the closest followers. In the gospel accounts, the resurrected Jesus is revealed by different means. To start, in the gospel of Mark we are simply told Jesus appeared […]
On the Good Shepherd
One of my favorite “Easter eggs” of Eastertide is Good Shepherd Sunday. Nowadays often the fourth Sunday of Easter, this Christian sabbath day is all about the imagery of our Lord as a shepherd and we humans as the sheep. It is imagery that is rooted in the Old Testament scriptures (most famously, Psalm 23) […]
On Joyful Disbelief
Disbelief gets a hard rap, and sometimes for good measure. Jesus critiques the disbelief of the disciples quite often in the scriptures. However, the resurrection narratives found in the gospels remind us that not all disbelief is the same. After Jesus is buried in the tomb and all hope seems lost, the disciples are overwhelmed […]
Relevant Reformation 