The Church Year comes to a close with the final Sunday being dedicated to Christ the King. It is one of the newest holy days on the calendar, having been added after World War I as a way to remind us that the kingdoms of this world are temporal and that the only Kingdom we […]
Tag: Kingdom of God
On Calls to Action
October 31st is Reformation Day (and also All Saints Day Eve, which these days is affectionately known as Halloween). This blog started as a reflection on the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Protestant Reformation in 2017, and I’d like to think the reformation spirit is still at the root of these writings, even […]
On Biblical Aspirations
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 […]
On Creation
For nearly a year, I have been writing blog posts about the Church Calendar. It has been a mix of reflections on the seasons of the Church Year, ponderings on particularly special days, and more recently exhortations regarding church-life (during this long period of Ordinary Time). There are still a few church-life topics I’d like […]
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 the Spirit of Pentecost
The midway point of the Church Calendar is marked with the holy day of Pentecost. On this day, Christians that honor liturgical traditions celebrate the receiving of the Holy Spirit. The most common story told on this day comes from the gospel writer Luke’s sequel: The Acts of the Apostles. The gospel text attributed to […]
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 Discipleship
Many of those who identify as Christians these days have a savior complex. Either they think they are called to be a savior, or they are looking for another humanly savior to preserve their worldview and way of life. However, when we ground our faith in the Gospel, we discover that we are not called […]
On Being Called By God
Similar to how each of the four gospels differ regarding Jesus’ first acts of ministry (as explored in the last reflection), the formation stories regarding the first disciples also varies. There is much to learn from this and far more to discover than this one short reflection could possibly exhaust. Yet, let’s explore a few […]
On Arrival
The season of Advent is only four weeks long and before you know it the celebration of the Christ Child on Christmas morning is just about here. Advent literally means the significant arrival of some person or event. Like so many seasons of the Church Year (and themes of Christianity itself) there are multiple layers […]
Relevant Reformation 