When we look at both faith and politics, we find a lot of rhetoric. Lots of words. Some may be just filler, but all are chosen—to persuade, reassure, distract, disarm, deflect, encourage, motivate, etc. (As is often the case, I find myself questioning the writing of this reflection at all, knowing that I am writing […]
Tag: Modernity
On Peace on Earth
During this past Christmas season, I found myself meditating on the concept of “peace on earth”. Peace between nations, peace between people, peace from war, and peace within. As cards of the season’s greetings came in the mail, as church services were attended, and as all the festive lights shown around me, I found myself […]
On Reflection
Yes, a reflection on reflection. After all, if people like Martin Luther did not reflect on their faith, the Reformation would not have happened. We too must reflect on our faith. And I think there is merit to doing this both privately and publicly. In fact, I believe that is a hallmark of Luther and […]
On Victory
On this day, the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, we must ask ourselves: What would victory look like for the Reformation? And have we reached that point? Is victory the unification of Catholic and Lutheran churches? Is victory unification of all Christendom? Is victory joint statements on doctrines and beliefs? Is victory the honoring […]
On Strangers and Enemies
Strangers are not always our enemies and our enemies are not always strangers, but we often treat strangers like our enemies and our enemies like strangers. And that’s because strangers and enemies are both often simply the result of human-made barriers and conflict. Some barriers are so systemically ingrained in our world that we forget […]
On Money
A key frustration of Martin Luther was how the church glorified and used money. He saw that the church in his day distorted the good news of Christ by offering salvation in exchange for money. And when the church became focused on money it ceased being the church. It stopped serving God. I wonder if […]
On Relationships
Martin Luther challenged the church teachings on relationships for priests and got married. Protestant churches today often view this as a minor detail. A natural, easy thing to accept. However, we must realize the uniqueness of this action. Now, it may be that historically some priests had secret wives in Luther’s day, but there is […]
On Values
For Christ-followers, we may like to think our faith is the sole influence on our values, but other factors (such as modernity, history, culture, and nationality, to mention a few) influence our values as well. Some of this is okay (right and good), since we are meant to live in the present while working for the Eternal […]
On Culture
We are called to live in our present time and yet, at the same time, we are called to be workers of Christ’s Eternal Kingdom as well. We have reflected on how this applies to our attitude towards history, modernity, and nationalism. Now, consider how this applies to our posture toward our culture. In contemporary […]
On Nationalism
As workers of the Eternal Kingdom, Christ-followers must be wary of unfettered nationalism. For the Christ-follower, it is impossible to have full commitment to both God and country. Only to God. This indeed is a hard pill to swallow. We want to follow what is most tangible and present, and we find this often in […]
Relevant Reformation 