where did the gospel go?
A quick glance at church websites in my area that preach topical sermon series yields a breadth of fascinating topics:
* life lessons from Jonah
* evangelism
* character study of Obadiah
* lessons on love from Ruth
* the power we get through conversion
* studies on family
* God's teaching on sex . . .
a prayer for correction and guidance
We beseech Thee, O Lord, mercifully to correct our wanderings, and by the guiding radiance of Thy compassion to bring us to the salutary vision of Thy truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
-The Gothic Missal
adoption always involves pain
Adding three children to our family through adoption has been one of the biggest blessings our family has ever enjoyed. Sound cliche? I know. It is also absolutely true. So are many of the other things you hear about adoption:
* it can take a long time
* it is an adventure of a lifetime
* the bureaucracy (especially of . . .
a blessing
In times of trouble, may the LORD answer your cry. May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm. May he send you help from his sanctuary and strengthen you from Jerusalem. May he remember all your gifts and look favorably on your burnt offerings. May he grant you your heart's desires and make all your plans . . .
'impossible' grace
"Impossible."
All too often that is our human response to the notion that God conveys grace through means like the sacraments. Perhaps, in America, we are too steeped in a Christianity influenced heavily by a Zwinglian flavor of Reformed thought or an overly-sensationalized, Pentecostal television ministries. Perhaps, . . .
debt ceilings, government shutdowns, and the Kingdom of God
To point out that the hours and days ahead are precarious for America's political and financial systems is to point out the obvious. At times when disaster seemingly looms just around the corner, interest in politics blossoms, and nearly everyone with a keyboard and a political opinion feels the obligation to weigh in on this or that. The . . .
to the lowly, not the exalted
Where reason is indignant, where our nature rebels, where our piety anxiously keeps us away: that is precisely where God loves to be. There he confounds the reason of the reasonable; there he aggravates our nature, our piety--that is where he wants to be, and no one can keep him from it. Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God . . .
