We tend to idealize holidays, but human depravity doesn’t go into hibernation between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. One thing that will hit most Christians, sooner or later, are tensions within extended families at holiday time. Some of you will be visiting family members who are contemptuous of the Christian faith and downright hostile to the... Continue Reading

“Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims … do gather at ye meeting house … on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three … there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all his blessings.” How will you... Continue Reading

(Samuel) Davies was a Presbyterian pastor in Hanover, Va., close by where Henry’s family lived. When Henry was a teenager his mother became involved with Davies’ church…He remembered those scenes of Davies’ revival preaching: very learned but also very emotional. And later on in his career, Henry’s critics would say that Henry spoke like an... Continue Reading

We long to have the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, the religious and the irreligious, the washed and the unwashed, the found and the lost, the unrighteous and the self-righteous come together to hear, believe, and live the gospel. Do it Lord, indeed, bring it to pass. This is what the... Continue Reading

If our local churches are really concerned about the welfare of their seminarian sons, they can do many things to help. First they can pray for them. She can also provide an invaluable service to the student and to the church by teaching her children the catechism. Seminary and the Church There is a movement... Continue Reading

Perhaps that is why Jesus said that for those who cause the little ones (children) to stumble, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck (Mark 9.42). Strong words responding to strong pain, and the cries of sexual brokenness right now going up... Continue Reading

I remember back in college my roommate, Michelle, brought home the movie The Usual Suspects. We spent the afternoon enthralled in this 1995 film. The movie begins with a ship massacre and explosion, where Roger “Verbal” Kint, played by Kevin Spacey, is one of only two survivors. The other survivor wasn’t doing well, hospitalized as... Continue Reading

“I must try harder” comes from the set of beliefs in which Jesus, at most, is our [distant] coach, giving direction, encouragement, and a good tongue lashing from the side-lines while we try to compete, without much assistance, against someone clearly more skilled than ourselves. Victory is never really possible. We just hope to avoid... Continue Reading

And I am not doing a thing differently than I did in the lean days…I am the same guy stubbornly doing the exact same thing. I am insanely repeating the same “methods” and expecting different results. And it appears to be working. This proves to me it has nothing to do with me (which is... Continue Reading

Well, that wasn’t a serious title: After an hour of reflection, I am forced to admit that pizza qua pizza is a morally neutral proposition. We might have thought it was politically neutral too, until Congress decided this week that pizza sauce still counts as a serving of vegetables in public school lunch lines. The... Continue Reading