China, the Olympics, and Prison
In case anyone out there missed it, the Summer Olympics will be held in Beijing, China this year. You may have seen or heard some of the murmurings about protests, etc. as the olympic torch makes its way around the world--protests mainly centered around Tibet. What has flown under the radar, at least in my sheltered little world, . . .
More Diognetus...
I am now re-reading the Epistle to Diognetus for the fifth or sixth time and picking up something I previously missed each time I pick it up again. Last time, I quoted extensively and wrote some thoughts on Diognetus' discussion of Christ as the gracious self-revelation of God to humanity. Similarly, we read later in the . . .
Transcendence and Immanence...
During my morning prayer / Bible reading / quiet time / meditation this morning, I found myself confronted with two radically different depictions of God's presence that resulted in the same human response. The psalm reading appointed for this morning (per the lectionary in LSB) was Psalm 99, a stirring, and lofty depiction of our . . .
Reading Diognetus
Not long ago, I picked up the third edition of The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations (ed. and trans. by Michael Holmes). What in the world are the Apostolic Fathers? As stated in the introduction:
The term "Apostolic Fathers" is traditionally used to designate the collection of the earliest extant . . .
Endeavour Highlights (STS-123)
Toward the end of every mission, NASA's multimedia folks put together a mission highlights clip that, for some odd reason, never seems to make it outside the confines of our hallowed institution. They do a great job of assembling the most exciting parts and combining it with some sort of funky disco-esque tunes as only NASA can do. So in . . .
An Easter Prayer
O almighty and eternal God, who through the death of Your Son has destroyed sin and death, and by His rising to life again restored innocence and everlasting life, that being delivered from the power of the devil, I might live under You in Your kingdom, grant that I may be forever comforted by true faith in the resurrection of Your dear Son. . . .
No Crucifix? Then Why a Manger?
Earlier this week, this post got me thinking about crosses and crucifixes...
As one recently come from mainstream Evangelicalism, one of stark contrasts of Lutheranism is the use of a crucifix (i.e. a cross with Jesus on it). What is a bit of a paradox is that while Evangelicals of all flavors love to sing about the cross, they . . .
