Paul, anguished and ashamed about portions of his biography, is hardly timid about others.
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
Lest we take the familiar path of dismissing Paul as uncouth and reptilian, it’s a good thing to notice how closely he links his worthiness to Christ and the ‘traditions’ about Jesus that he stewards for the sake of the communities he loves. Continue Reading »
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For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. (2 Corinthians 1:8–11 ESV)
Now I think we need to see those faces again …. Continue Reading »
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Rosie didn’t wait long to make her impact on our family. As we drove down the mountainside from the Costa Rican farm where we had picked up our second puppy, Rosie urped up the better part of a whole chicken in the back of my Toyota Landcruiser. We stopped in the plaza of the first town, two giggly boys and I pushing the enormous cargo of regurgitated fowl out the door and into the street as we struggled to keep trembling little Rosie wrapped in her brand new comfort blanket.
It was the first of many family moments at which Rosie was front and center. Continue Reading »
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I recently had the chance to toss a small chapter into a quirky little compilation put together by my friend Dan Schmidt and now available in paperback and eBook formats on Amazon. Continue Reading »
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We rightly grow weary of the dismissive verbal wave of the hand that claims, ‘These modern worship songs can’t compare to the old hymns. They just repeat the same words over and over again’.
Our generation’s artists, who dare the challenge of providing us with words and song for worship, need our encouragement rather than our blanket condemnation. The established hymnody of the church, after all, tosses at us some sickly-sweet laughers that would make the apostle Paul wince. And this is to say nothing of the richness that is to be found in corners of the contemporary worship repertoire. Continue Reading »
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The best hymnody leaves little else for comment. When a writer of music intended to lead the people of God into worship manages to assemble, meaningfully and memorably, the great truths in a way that brings the simple and the wise together into adoration, he has accomplished a very great thing.
Recently, at the Christian community that my wife and call home—Indianapolis’ Church at the Crossing—these words came into our mouths. What more can one say?
Children of the Heavenly Father
Safely in His bosom gather
Nestling bird nor star in heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given Continue Reading »
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A prophet like Jeremiah—and so many others who bore with similar reluctance the mantle of YHWH’s spokesperson—needed to be dragged kicking and screaming to the duty. Rarely were those prophets whom the biblical canon endorses as true prophets, the genuine article, eager with careerist zeal for the task to which YHWH had summoned them.
They dragged their feet.
Declare among the nations and proclaim, set up a banner and proclaim, conceal it not, and say … (Jeremiah 50:2 ESV)
There is a reason for the insistent repetition in the order. Continue Reading »
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There are a million reasons to stay on the couch.
Passive resignation before the unyielding hardness of life and leadership can easily become a lifestyle. Passivity has a lot going for it, starting with the fact that it’s so much easier than getting up, walking out the door, and facing the music. You can even spin it in acceptable directions: living a ‘balanced life’ springs to mind and—apparently—to the pens and keyboards of a thousand suburban Christian writers, for whom balance and peace have become the twin goblet handles of the Holy Grail. Continue Reading »
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An address delivered by David Baer (President, Overseas Council/USA) to the 2012 ICETE Doctoral Consultation in Nairobi, Kenya.
I have been asked to sound the notes of celebration and achievement this evening, a task I hasten to undertake. I will add to these a personal word of congratulation.
I have given to the modest thoughts that I will place before you this evening a title of just two words: Studying Love. Continue Reading »
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To be a prophet is not simply to declare what’s coming.
Contrary to what is often assumed, the language of the biblical prophets is rarely deterministic. To the contrary, the lines of this literature are relationally rich. The emotion of love and embrace, as of love unrequited, is a frequent visitor to these pages.
The Lord is not only the subject of the famous words, ‘Thus says …’. He is also the one who woos his often recalcitrant Israel. He pleads with her, suffers with her, is stunned by her, returns to her. He both desolates and is desolated by his beloved people. Continue Reading »
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Canter Bridge 