In a recent post at The Gospel Coalition, Dr. Dan Doriani of Covenant Theological Seminary, reflects on a recent trip to Singapore to speak for Reformation Day. He reflects on the cultural gap between the post-medieval Europe of Luther’s day and modern Singapore. What is so helpful in this reflection is his honesty about his […]
Valerie Foucachon has written a very thoughtful and helpful post,”Why Christians Should Celebrate Halloween,” which explores the history of the Church’s interaction with the ancient European autumn harvest/death festivals. For both the Romans and the Celts, autumn marked a time to celebrate the harvest, and prepare for the oncoming long darkness of winter; the former […]
In a recent post, Microcosm of American religion in one small town map, SIU:C political science professor Tobin Grant has made a study of the geography and demographics of Carbondale’s churches. It is insightful, helpful, and convicting. Dr. Grant notes, The membership of churches in green on the map [which are almost all located in […]
This is a thoughtful and well-written article by Shannon Jammal-Hollemans, looking at some very biblical lessons Americans have sometimes avoided in responding to 9/11: Remembering 9/11, and the Bible’s take on fear, ThinkChristian
This helps to suggest why more and more observers of church and popular culture think that members of our contemporary culture are actually looking for liturgy, tradition, ritual and history in their church’s life: http://imperfectlyordinary.blogspot.ca/2012/06/you-should-be-orthodox.html (and, better yet, remembering and being formed by the long story of the Church while at the same time continuing […]
Hymn writer Stuart Townend reflects on what makes new worship songs great, and how such songs can deepen the liturgical and spiritual life of a congregation: “Do We Really Need More Worship Songs?”
Amos: Tribal Identity Is Not Enough – Curran Bishop Continuing our overview of the Bible, we come to Amos, addressing the Northern Kingdom of Israel, during a period of economic and political prosperity. But in their prosperity, the Israelites were not taking seriously their mission to be a picture to the nations of the beauty […]
Acknowledging singles as full citizens of the Kingdom An excellent and helpful article from Christena Cleveland, challenging the Church to realize that relationship/marital status is another of the barriers that the Gospel breaks down. Being the attractive community of God’s goodness and justice means not carving people out of that community because they don’t fit […]
Matthew 6:34: Work vs. Anxiety The sermon from Dec. 29, 2013: Our Missions Pastor, Wyatt George, brings us a message from Christ’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, looking at the roll work plays in Jesus’ theology of trusting in God.
Luke 2.1-20: God In Our Mess Looking at the story of Christ’s birth in Luke, we see the extent to which Luke is pointing us to the “offensiveness” of the Incarnation to the Greek mind–that the God of Heaven would condescend to be incarnated in matter. In this doctrine we find comfort that God dignifies […]