Revelation 1: 4-8 The minister of a rural church in the Ozarks suggested to his parishioners that they purchase a chandelier. It was put to a vote, and all members voted it down. “Why do you oppose the purchase of a chandelier?” asked the preacher. “Well,” said one of the members, “first, we can’t spell…
Tag: worship
Better Than We Could
James 5: 13-16 In trouble? Pray Happy? Sing songs of praise. Sick? Call the elders of the church to pray and anoint with oil. Your condition or emotions call for a response. Keeping your condition or emotions to yourself is not natural for a Christian. Waiting for and expecting things to change on their own…
Good News for a New Year
Matthew 2: 1-23 This is Epiphany Sunday in the Christian worship calendar. The liturgical season of Epiphany are days to draw worshippers to texts and images of light and splendor. We heard and read a text today that is not a birth narrative. The child and parents are no longer in the manger. Matthew wrote…
Nightwatch ("Its My Turn to Fight")
The critical matter for me is the fight. I’ve agreed to participate in a prayer team for a Chrysalis flight in May, and this is an opportunity for spiritual warfare, but could this be the extent of the fight? I don’t know for sure. — from “Its My Turn to Fight”In April, I wrote a post describing…
The Waiting Is Over
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us’ . . . Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, tablets that…
God Engages the Church
Lying in bed, Sunday morning, I signed on to Facebook and watched the opening portion of a video blog post from Frank Schaeffer. He’s the son of Francis Schaeffer, the Calvinist theologian who wrote prolifically about the influence of secular humanism in America and influenced the founders of the Religious Right in America. Frank parted from…
The World Is Really Changing
I read from Psalm 71 this week. A set of verses encouraged me to believe afresh in the purpose of this blog. But I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all day long, though their number is…
We Can Only Afford Air
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” . . . . And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who…
Better Than Life (Some Days In January)
Over several days in January, including two nights of worship with April, I played two playlists of worship songs on my laptop on random play, about 17 hours of music. In these times of worship, How He Loves, sung by Kim Walker-Smith, played regularly to the point of annoyance. During one night in worship, it…
Your Hands & Arms
We went to a local church on Christmas eve. April and I wanted to go to a traditional Christmas Eve service to join in the tradition of carols and the gospel account of the Christmas story and liturgy. April has felt she’s missed Advent this year. This would be an opportunity to recapture what was…
Psalm 102 in The Message 