Like the rest of the country, I watched the news in shock and disbelief just days ago as unspeakable headlines scrolled along the bottom of the screen: “School shooting in Newtown, CT;” “Gunman attacks elementary school;” “More than 20 feared…
Where Christmas music originates
Christmas songs are among the popular music in the world. Music historians believe the first explicitly Christmas hymns were composed in Rome in the 4th century. However, in Luke 1:46-56 we find a story culminating in Mary’s song, the first…
Grassroot campaigns and the Church
“The Kingdom of God is like a grassroots political campaign,” said Jesus, never. If I were a betting man (and I’m not) I would be willing to wager that had Jesus known about grassroots campaigning that’s exactly what he would have used….
Your Kingdom Come…
I’ve been thinking about one phrase in The Lord’s Prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The longer I ponder the words, the more I become convinced of a few matters. The…
Redefining what it means to be great
Pride is essentially competitive; it’s competitive by its very nature. We are not prideful because we are rich, clever, or good-looking. We are prideful because we think we are richer, clever-er, and better-looking. It’s the comparison that makes us proud….
Did Jesus really have a wife?
What you are looking at above is a 1,600-year-old piece of papyrus that was written in Coptic. A New York Times’ article on it set off speculation on whether or not Jesus was married: A historian of early Christianity at…
Jesus’ “wife”?
On September 18 I glanced quickly at the headlines from the mobile edition of the New York Times and went straight to “A Faded Piece of Papyrus Refers to Jesus’ Wife.” As a theologian I’m always interested in how such…
Beautiful City
As I’ve been doing some writing today I’ve been listening to music on my computer. I’d loaded some new songs and I smiled as the opening notes of “Beautiful City” from “Godspell” began. It’s always been one of my favorite…
‘Love Your Neighbor with Your Vote’
We don’t put out political yard signs at our house. For 21 years as a journalist, I could not take a publicly partisan stand on political matters. And now as a pastor, I should not take a public partisan stand….