“So, Are You Open and Affirming?” A Lesbian, a Pastor and Sparks of Glory
“What do you mean by ‘open and affirming?’” I asked
“I envision a church with all sorts of people learning what it means to be followers of Jesus living in a broken world. We want to be open to everyone from across the spectrum of faith, including those who are unsure of what they believe. The gospel, this amazingly good news about Jesus’ life, death... Continue Reading
The Times Exposes Obamacare’s Tentacles
“The tentacles of Obamacare touch everybody—health insurance companies, doctors, the payers.”
“The health care industry now spends more money on lobbying in Washington than any sector of the economy, according to the Center for Responsive Politics here. … Critics say these former officials are cashing in, trading on the relationships and expertise they acquired while working for the taxpayers, and cite such career moves as proof... Continue Reading
Robert L. Reymond Called Home to Glory
Pastor, Professor, Scholar, and Author
Reymond was also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He served on the Presbyterian Church in America’s General Assembly’s Theological Examining Committee, and had retired from the pastorate of Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church, a young congregation in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The Funeral Plans for Dr. Reymond have... Continue Reading
Caring for the Caregiver
The spiritual, emotional, and financial burdens that few people understand
Most congregations have at least one member who is serving as a caregiver of a loved one. Many caregivers are women. The single mom who puts her child with cerebral palsy in daycare so she can work. The woman who is rearing her teen aged daughter and her daughter’s daughter at the same time. The wife who had to put... Continue Reading
Man Finally Finds Calling At Age 80
Where is God when we're waiting?
Moses was approximately eighty years old when he met God at the burning bush (Acts 7:30). Eighty! By the time most people hit eighty they are getting ready to sink the last putt on the last hole. Their life is winding down, literally and figuratively. They’ve accomplished just about everything they’re going to accomplish. They’re... Continue Reading
Millennials and Marriage
Young Americans have come to believe that they can only achieve “good” marriages through professional success and economic prosperity
Unfortunately, they have things exactly backwards. A good marriage is the sort of thing that almost anyone can aspire to, regardless of skills, education, or status. The most important ingredients for marital success are within any individual’s power to attain. Professional success, by contrast, does reflect hard work and commitment, but it also depends on... Continue Reading
Graystone congregation votes to leave PC (USA)
Graystone is likely to remain a Presbyterian Church but become affiliated with another denomination
The Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in recent years had approved changes in the church such as allowing ordination of homosexuals as ministers, elders or deacons, and permitting marriage of homosexual couples. Some held the assembly’s decision to allow insurance coverage to cover abortions for church employees as an issue of disagreement. A... Continue Reading
To Have or Not to Have: Childlessness and Imago Dei Identity
What if bringing a life into being and sustaining that life is one of the most God-like things human beings could ever do?
I don’t think this demands that every individual become a parent—clearly some will not and are no less capable of experiencing imago dei—but I do think that it changes the tenor of the discussion and how we view children. So that ultimately, the decision to have children is not one we make simply because we... Continue Reading
Our National Insanity: An Interview with John Piper
The future for America is bleak, says John Piper, “unless God moves like a tornado through this land” to wake up people
When you read the last five chapters of Judges with its refrain about having no king in Israel, so everyone does what is right in his own eyes: Does that seem like modern America? “Everyone does what is right in his own eyes” sounds very much like modern skepticism or relativism or postmodernism, in that we... Continue Reading
Why Does Jesus Use the Phrase “I Am”?
Looking to Isaiah to understand Jesus' "I am" declarations
In the end, the “I am” language in John is a likely reference to God’s self-declarations in Isaiah, and thus a dramatic claim by Jesus to be the one true God of Israel. By appealing to Isaiah, Jesus is not portraying himself as another God, but the one and the same God of the Jews. One... Continue Reading