It’s been one week since… It’s been one week since I turned forty. A true statement but likely not the way anyone finished that sentence, including myself. It’s been one week since someone bearing the image of God murdered another. Even that doesn’t narrow it down but I’m sure in the minds of many the …
Tag: life
Never Forget
Never forget. Those words have been associated with this date on the calendar for over two decades. Like many others, I remember where I was, what I was doing, and what the days following the incident felt like. Those days were different than the days today. Then it felt like people pulled together—albeit in opposition …
Sharing the Southwell
The now sainted Anthony Thiselton gave a lecture back in the 1980s when he assumed a new post as Principal of St. John's, Nottingham dealing with exegesis and the posture of the interpreter (you can read the lecture here). I've often thought about that lecture in part because of one line in particular: Too often …
What Should We Speak?
One of the reasons I appreciate engaging in historical research, particularly related to the early to mid-twentieth century, is because it reminds me that today is not harder to live in—it only seems that way. To be fair, today is a hard time in which to live for a variety of reasons, not the least …
Love is Prior
This coming Sunday we are planning on having a couple of deaths and resurrections otherwise known as baptisms. As I read the scriptures I see baptism not as something I or others do to show our commitment to God so much as it is God’s way of making disciples of all nations, God’s way of …
Asking Tough Questions
Recently I listened to an episode of the Russell Moore Show that featured singer/song writer Jon Guerra (listen here). A member of the congregation I serve shared it with me because it resonated with her and she thought it might have the same effect on me. She wasn’t wrong. I can commiserate with much of …
Looking in the Mirror
For at least the past five years one quote from a now sainted theologian has rattled around in my head. “Too often,” said Anthony Thiselton, “we attack or defend before we have genuinely understood.”1 He spoke that in an address he gave in the mid-80s as he took up a post as Principal of St. …
The Path of Love
Twenty years before I was born the publishing house of my church body published a book called The Daily Office. It was a daily devotional, structured and rooted in the ancient liturgical traditions of the church. It fell out of use, as devotional texts do, but I was on the hunt for a copy for …
People
The congregation I serve is about a mile from a naval air station. A fairly decent portion of the people who commune with me on a Sunday have connections to that naval base either because they are or were active duty there, engage in or retired from contract work there, or have a friend or …
A Day We Never Thought We Would See
In late June of 2017 my wife and I saw a day we never thought we would see. We went in for an ultrasound at the 18 week mark of our second pregnancy. We were excited for another little addition to our family. I was serving a wonderful congregation who cared for me and my …
an occasional theologian 