I remember back in 2002 going to worship one morning, and the pastor preached from Isaiah chapter 6. He started his message with Isaiah’s words: In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty… And then he shifted and started again. The pastor said: In the […]
Years ago I heard about a school system in a large city that had a program to help children keep up with their work during long stays in the hospital. One day a teacher was called in to visit a young boy. However, no one had mentioned to her that he had been badly burned […]
I was listening to a podcast on forgiveness on my drive home from work the other day. They interviewed the psychologist Robert Enright who had been working with children in Liberia. You may remember that that country had been wracked by civil war. He was talking about a Skype session he had with a young […]
Dr. George Sweeting tells a story about an event that took place in Russia in the 1920’s. Communist leader Nikolai Bukharin was sent from Moscow to address an anti-God rally in Kyiv. For an hour he took apart the Christian faith – ridiculed it. He spoke until it seemed as though the whole structure of […]
I’ll never forget years ago, I went surfing with a good friend who had just recovered from a severe surfing injury. He had been out of the water for over a year and a half. It had taken a long time to recover. In fact, the pain was so intense that ordinary activities like climbing […]
Today is Independence Day. Many of you will celebrate with pool parties, cookouts, and fireworks. I hope you will pause to give thanks to God that we live in a country where we are free to worship God, free to choose where we live, free to choose the type of work we will do, etc, […]
In the Gospel of Mark chapter 6 (30-34), we read: “As Jesus went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them… and he began to teach them many things.” And then, not that long after, Mark tells us that when Jesus and the disciples crossed over the sea of Galilee: “When […]
Back in the early spring on Wednesday nights, we took a class through Renovare on Spiritual Formation. And in the very first class, the question was asked, “What is your image of God?” Because your image of God shapes not only your faith – but also your world view, and often how you live. For […]
Some time ago, I read about a pastor named Dr. E.V. Hill who served a church in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Back in the 1960s, during the burnings, looting, and community riotings, Dr. Hill did a very difficult thing. He denounced his neighbors who were destroying property and stealing from area merchants. Of […]
This week, we’ve been reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer as a beautiful resource. As I mentioned on Tuesday, years ago, a spiritual director invited me to look at the Lord’s Prayer from a slightly different angle, and to use it as a pattern or a model for my own prayers, praying it one phrase at […]
