“Sunday Worship Service: 8:45 and 11:00 AM”. The Reader-Board in front of the church announced the times for congregational assemblies. Most of us think of this as “worship”, an English colloquialism that dominates the mindset of the religious devotees. Part of the regulated organization of life. Not for everyone (anymore) but at least for those…
One of the reasons that we have such a hard time putting our faith into practice in the everyday work world is that we have never taken time to understand our own roots. We are part of a heritage that reaches back to ancient Greece; thousands of years before Christ walked the Palestine pathways. We…
As I left the sanctuary, I struggled with the gnawing feeling that I was missing something important. Not something that I didn’t hear in the sermon. No, what I was bothering me was something that God kept pointing to; something that was included the morning’s message about revival. Animated parishioners crowed around the coffee table. …
1 Peter 5:7 One of the wonders of the Bible is that in spite of multiple writers, various historical periods and different cultural backgrounds, there are only a few themes that weave in and out of every book. We can usefully picture these themes as threads woven into a great tapestry. Every thread contributes to…
“In this world you have affliction” John 16:33 If you knew the whole picture, you might change your mind. Christianity as commonly presented in the Western world is a religion of reward. We hear about the blessings of being a Christian. We are exhorted to enter into the abundant life, to experience God’s gracious provision,…
The Talmud suggests that the definition of Man is “the creature who prays”. This idea sets the stage for understanding what prayer really is. Prayer is the defining characteristic of what it means to be human. In other words, to be truly human is to be in communication with the Creator. Men and women who…
Long before the term “prophet” took on its contemporary meaning of predicting the future, the Greek term prophetes has a very different meaning. In fact, until the Christian era after apostles refocused the meaning, it did not embody the concept of peering into the future at all. Prophetes has its roots in the Greek culture…
Sometimes the teacher is more in need than the pupils. For quite awhile, I have been disturbed by the experience of worship. My wife and I have gone to many different church buildings (I deliberately use this expression to make the distinction between the church as an assembly of God believers and the place where…
As is often the case, I find that the Greeks had a much deeper grasp of the essential elements of the concepts behind words that we now employ without much inner reflection. We have become anaesthetized to the profound and often revealing connections lying hidden inside our language simply because we have been removed from…
“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” Life in the Spirit is a lot like proper punctuation. There are rules that have to be followed. The Bible often uses the analogy that our lives are like something written in a book. Having God write your name in His book is…
