At the Intersection of Theology, Nature, and the Arts
“The greatest problems of our time are not technological, for these we handle fairly well. They are not even political or economic, because the difficulties in these areas, glaring as they may be, are largely derivative. The greatest problems are moral and spiritual, and unless we can make some progress in these realms, we may …
Continue reading "Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth"
“Rise, let us be going” (Matthew 26:46). In the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples went to sleep when they should have stayed awake, and once they realized what they had done it produced despair. The sense of having done something irreversible tends to make us despair. We say, “Well, it’s all over and ruined now; …
Luke 11:33-36 Richard Rolle (1290-1349) writes, in his The Fire of Love, about the spiritual flame that feeds the soul: “I cannot tell you how surprised I was the first time I felt my heart begin to warm. It was real warmth, too, not imaginary, and it felt as if it were actually on fire. …
Christ is building His kingdom with earth’s broken things. Human beings want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in building their kingdoms; but God is the God of the unsuccessful, of those who have failed. Heaven is filling with earth’s broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take …
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Father in Heaven! Hold not our sins up against us but hold us up against our sins so that the thought of You when it wakens in our soul, and each time it wakens, should not remind us of what we have committed but of what You did forgive, not of how we went astray …
From Douglas Steere’s book, Prayer and Worship, comes this excerpt on intercessory prayer: When we hold up the life of another before God, when we expose it to God’s love, when we pray for its release from drowsiness, for the quickening of its inner health, for the power to throw off a destructive habit, for …
Continue reading "Holding Up the Life of Another Before God"
Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626) is cherished for his prayers that have been preserved for us from his own private devotions. Here is a selection that we might use this week as a call from our own hearts. I believe in you, O God, Father, Word, Spirit—one God. I believe that by your Fatherly love all things …
Continue reading "Lancelot Andrewes: Prayers that Lift the Mind Up to God"
Some media outlets and some of my friends on Facebook have been in an uproar over comments made by Ben Carson at a Monday meeting with Housing and Urban Development employees. They have expressed outrage over Dr. Carson's use of the word "immigrant" to refer to slaves brought, in cargo holds, to the United States. "There were other immigrants who came here …
Continue reading "Ben Carson, the Media, and Word Pretzeling"
Sunday's palms are Wednesday's ashes as another Lent begins; Thus we kneel before the Maker in contrition for our sins. We have marred baptismal pledges, in rebellion gone astray; Now returning, seek forgiveness; grant us pardon, God, this day! We have failed to love our neighbors, their offenses to forgive, Have not listened to their …
Richard Foster writes: "Perhaps the greatest malady in the Church today is converts to Christ who are not disciples of Christ--a clear contradiction in terms. This malady affects everything in church life and in large measure accounts for the low level of spiritual nutrients in our local congregations. To counter this sad state of affairs, …
Continue reading "Converts to Christ Who Are Not Disciples of Christ"
DFG Hailson 