Luther certainly developed a practice in which music took on a more highly charged value, consolidating the drama and struggles of belief within the mind of the believer rather than in the multi-sensory panoply of traditional Catholic practice. It is perhaps no surprise that Bach once related the presence of God and his grace specifically... Continue Reading

When fathers spend a large amount of time and large sums of money on football, equipment, tickets to the game, tailgating expenses, and spend very little energy in the body life of the church—such a testimony speaks volumes about the god the father worships.  Either God is perceived as boring and irrelevant or the children... Continue Reading

Our salvation depends on God’s covenant, rooted in eternity, foreshadowed in the Mosaic liturgy, fulfilled in Christ, enduring forever. No wonder Hebrews calls it “so great a salvation” (Heb. 2:3).   Before all time; prior to all worlds; when there was nothing “outside of” God Himself; when the Father, Son, and Spirit found eternal, absolute, and... Continue Reading

Read Romans 5:3-5. Notice that God cares about our suffering, not just our sin (v. 3). Notice that God recognizes the difficult journey you are on. Notice that God sees that shame is the most difficult obstacle, often even more difficult than the direct cause of suffering itself, on that journey (v. 5).    This post... Continue Reading

Infant humans are humans. Humans conceive human embryos. Those embryos develop into human infants. Our English word embyro is just the Greek word ἔμβρυον (Embyon) for foetus (fetus) and Foetus is Latin for infant. From a biological perspective, all the stuff that determines what we become is already present. From a logical perspective, it makes no sense to say that we become human either in utero or after. Who says? On... Continue Reading

To achieve and maintain a credible, public Christian political witness, truth must be valued. So must humility, temperance, consistency, brotherly kindness, and other qualities that are perfectly reflective of what it means to be Christian and to uphold Christian character.   The responses to the white supremacy rally and the resulting violence in Charlottesville have... Continue Reading

One of the first steps to protecting children is the recognition and acknowledgement that the prevalence of child sexual victimization isn’t any lower within the very communities where children should be most protected, our churches. We also need to acknowledge that both adults and children perpetrate sexual abuse.   It happens. We wish it didn’t... Continue Reading

Paul’s conversion was so abrupt, enlightening, and illuminating, such a surprise and such a reversal, everything he says and does thereafter is bathed in the same blinding light. Gospel wakefulness is so powerful, its effect is sustained. It forever changes the game, flips the script.   Not that I have already obtained this or am... Continue Reading

When God created the world, all the angels shouted for joy (Job 38:4-7). The God who sings over his creation is the God who rejoices in his works (Psalm 104:31). If God delights in the work of his hands, shouldn’t we? And shouldn’t the wonders of creation lead us to praise and thank him?  ... Continue Reading

“The generality of readers, I suppose, gathered thereby the notion that [Machen] was simply another Fundamentalist on the order of William Jennings Bryan and the simian faithful of Appalachia. But he was actually a man of great learning, and, what is more, of sharp intelligence.”   J. Gresham Machen was by most accounts a fundamentalist.... Continue Reading