on advent and waiting
why we need it and how to practice it
Of late, I have been particularly observant that people are picking up this Advent season on the subject of waiting. Bonhoeffer especially is known in his devotional for writing about Advent as a time of waiting. During the season of advent we practice waiting by not letting Christmas 'out of the bag' too quickly. We focus . . .
"he came to save"
If we do not believe in the power of evil, we cannot fully understand Jesus. It cannot be denied that he came to save people. But unless we understand that the main reason for his coming was to join the fight between God and Satan – to destroy the works of Satan – we cannot fully understand the need for an atonement-death on . . .
advent: training ground for the Christian life
In a letter to his fiancee Maria von Wedmeyer from prison in December 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:
Celebrating Advent means being able to wait. Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten...Whoever does not know the austere blessedness of waiting—that is, of hopefully doing without—will never experience . . .
to America, on her 241st birthday
As much as I am outspoken against churches who act as though they worship our country more than Jesus and our foreign policy that does little to provide security or true aid to anyone except the deep pockets of defense contractors, I deeply love my country. On this, her 241st birthday, there are two emotions that fill my . . .
the war prayer
NOTE: Being asked to give the invocation for our wing’s 100th anniversary later this summer and thinking about the dissonance between many Christian chaplains’ prayers and the teachings of Scripture led me back to this classic by Mr. Twain. It is pointed, sarcastic, and wonderfully still as relevant today as when it was penned.
. . .Posted in: chaplaincymilitaryprayertheologywar
on chaplains and their prayers
what are we praying for and why?
One of the most memorable scenes in the move Patton is when General Patton summons his chaplain, Fr. James O'Neill, and orders him to write a prayer for good weather just before the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge. Chaplain O'Neill wrote the following, now-famous, words:
Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly . . .
Posted in: chaplaincymilitaryprayertheologywar
