This is a great post from our friend Gretchen – perfect for the end of the year! ———————– The beginning of a new year brings with it a flurry of New Year’s resolutions….lose weight, exercise more, de-clutter the closets, etc. We all have issues and things about which we feel guilty. So with the dawning […]
Tag Archives | Bible
More than a Sunday School Story
This is a post written by our friend Gretchen – it’s another great one! We are so grateful for her and we hope you enjoy what she writes… ——————————- If you grew up attending Sunday School, you will remember all of the great Bible stories that were part of the regular Sunday School fare. There […]
Living Truth
The Bible is an epic story: a true and transcendent portrayal of reality. It invites us to live in light of God’s purposes and in line with his truth. In this story God—the Father, Son, and Spirit God—is the protagonist. And the Son’s captivating qualities set the scene: to know him is to love him. […]
A Secret Society?
A friend’s email noted his surprise at how often he’s heard Christians—including church leaders—speak of Bible reading as a chore or an unhappy challenge. He mentioned this as he wrote about his delight in finding a partner for a fast-paced Bible read-through. I celebrated with him. In our shared pleasure I realized how rare we […]
Can We Stop Saying…?
I learned quickly in seminary that there were two “Sunday School” answers that could be given to almost any question asked in class: “Jesus” or “Context.” Jesus is obvious – he could be the ultimate answer for nearly any question. But it was a shock to me to hear “context, context, context” from every one […]
Quiet, Please!
Years ago the caricature of a librarian was a matron who roamed the library shushing everyone. I hope the title for this entry won’t stir that image! Picture, instead, an auditorium in 2013 filled with the clamor of scientists awaiting the arrival of speakers who would confirm the discovery of the Higgs boson—the so-called “God […]
The Greatest Peril for Bible Churches?
Mark’s all-action Gospel is interrupted twice by blocks of teaching from Jesus. The first, in chapter 4, feels so familiar. A man went out to sow. (Yes, we know that one.) One type of seed, four types of soil, most unfruitful, only good soil really gives life, etc. It is a familiar passage. It is […]
Conversion as Conversation
My life-changing response to God’s love—my conversion—came through a conversation with Christ. I was a young skeptic—ready to dismiss my Sunday-School charade of faith—when a chain of unlikely events caught my attention. Was God at work? Did he actually exist? Or, more to the point, if he did exist was he trying to catch my […]
If…then
I noticed something in Job I hadn’t seen before. Job’s erstwhile friends all used an “if . . . then” approach to confront Job over his presumed sins. The point was simple: If you change your behaviors, Job, God will reward you. If not, then God will punish you. Very clear and very confrontive. This […]
The Dictator Within
The Bible tells us that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So what do we do? Typically we tell ourselves to act humbly until we are truly humble. But this seems to highlight the problem, namely, our pride. How prideful it is to think that we can, by our own volition, […]