511 results for tag: blog

Fools, Foolishness and Grace – by Greg Albrecht

Friend and Partner Letter From June 2015: The left side of his body appeared to be paralyzed, so that his thin left arm dangled, looking as if it had atrophied. The right side of his body, with the aid of a cane held firmly by his muscular right arm, dragged his inert left side after it. He didn’t walk – he shuffled. Karen and I had just entered our local grocery store, and as we started down one of the aisles the crippled, grizzled man was ahead of us, hobbling along, in the company of a bigger and stronger companion.  As we stopped to select items to place in our cart, we heard him bellowing at his much larger friend and at other ...

He Wants You: Dead and Alive – by Greg Albrecht

      What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done ...

“Dark Nights Will End—The SON Will Rise” – Sermon by Greg Albrecht – Excerpt from Spiritual Soup Vol. 3

  1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—   2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.   3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder   4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across ...

Everything Happens for a Reason? – by Brad Jersak

Everything happens for a reason. But sometimes, that reason is you’re stupid and you make bad decisions.—Demotivational Meme Thought Experiment Response: “It was meant to be. Everything happens for a reason.”Thought experiment: Describe the scenario that led to the response. In our hypothetical scenario, something bad happened. Maybe not truly tragic—but somewhere in the flat tire to romantic break-up spectrum. Or if you’re gutsy, you could go as severe as bankruptcy. Or as irrelevant as a traffic jam. “It was meant to be.” A kind word of consolation. “Everything happens for a reason.” An appeal to a bigger ...

What’s So Bad About Religion? – by Greg Albrecht

      Some of our readers and listeners can't bring themselves to believe that religion is as bad as we say it is. They say things like, "you spend too much time talking about the negative things and too little about the good things." One person said, "What's so bad about religion? If you had more grace you wouldn't harp on religion so much."       If you have ever visited a prison, you walk away realizing it's a horrible thing to be incarcerated. When you are locked up, you are a slave, you have no freedom. If you know anything about institutionalized incarceration you will also know that inmates ...

Freely Have You Received, Freely Give – by Greg Albrecht

Friend and Partner Letter from June 2022: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers ...

What is the Gospel? – Part 2 – by Greg Albrecht

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?   We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.   If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves ...

“Without the Shedding of Blood” – Brad Jersak

“Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (Heb 9:22). The prosecution rests, your honor.A blood sacrifice is required or there is no forgiveness.That should end the discussion. Well it shouldn’t. But it did … for me. See, God can’t just forgive freely … that wouldn’t be ‘just.’ Sin must be paid for. How? Only by the shedding of blood. Because why? Because a blood sacrifice is what God requires, what God needs, what God wants … and by blood, we mean death. Death of the sinner, or alternatively, a ram, lamb, bull … or a Son. And so we taught, “Sin cannot simply be forgiven. ...

Q&R: God in the Old Testament

Question I have one quick theological question (but it may not be a quick answer!). I am trying to read about God in the Old Testament through Jesus revelation that God is nonviolent and non-vengeful. What is your opinion on the destruction of the prophets of Baal by Elijah? Is that just an accommodation of God to man’s expectation? Response I would suggest starting with my book, A More Christlike Word. I don't address Elijah's massacre of the prophets of Baal in the book, mainly because it's not one of the most difficult stories to deal with. I say that because, in that particular story, there is no indication at all that God ...

What is the Gospel? – Part 1 – by Greg Albrecht

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, "The righteous will live by faith."—Romans 1:16-17 Paul 1) categorically states that he is not ashamed of the gospel, 2) defines the gospel as the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, and 3) asserts that the gospel inherently includes a righteousness from God—a righteousness by faith—precluding any sort of righteousness which may come, or seem to ...

Fabric of Our Life – Stuart Segall

Isn’t this amazing…. I was captivated when I saw this. It was like a sunset, a landscape, a wondrous seascape. Yet, when I imagine what this dress is made of and the work that went into it, I understand the heart, soul, and emotions involved in the final touch of the artist/tailor/seamstress that finished it. When you weave different fabrics together like silk or satin you get an amazing fabric. They are not durable and must be handled with care, but when that is done, you get a look of beauty and richness that is second to none. It is all about what the weaver and the tailor choose to create. As a boy, I worked in a tailor’s shop ...

A Renewal of Compassion – by Ed Dunn

The times in which we live have been, in a word, tough. The last two years have seen radical changes in our health, both mentally and physically, our nation, politically, racially and economically, and our world, as we try to move around it. It’s been easy of late to take up a position on any number of topics, to stop listening altogether to different points of view, and to see large groups of people as “other.” I know I’ve felt a strong pull towards this polarization, and the harmful attitudes that come along with it. I take public transportation to every destination I can’t get to on foot. Given my eyesight condition, I gave up my ...

Grace and Cookies – Three Lessons – by Greg Albrecht

Friend and Partner Letter from May 2016 In a “Dennis the Menace” cartoon, Dennis and his pal Joey are seen leaving next-door neighbor Mrs. Wilson’s house loaded up with a plate full of cookies. Joey says to Dennis, “I wonder what we did to deserve this?” The forever-in-trouble, always-in-hot-water Dennis, well aware that he is far from perfect, astutely advises Joey, “Look, Joey. Mrs. Wilson didn’t give us these cookies because we’re nice, but because she’s nice.” The first lesson of grace (at least in this letter!) is this: We don’t deserve God’s love – God is not obligated to give us cookies because we think we ...

Reflections on Mother’s Day – By Stuart Segall

I have a Mother’s Day story that I would like to share with you. I was at my office at the end of the day on Saturday, May 7th, 2022. I usually come by at that time to feed the squirrels and birds around my office. My clients enjoy spending a few minutes watching all the activity. I was getting ready to leave while there was still light outside. As I got to my car, I looked behind the gated area where the dumpster is for the office and could see someone moving around behind the fence. I like to gather flowers during the week from several florists who support my little service of bringing flowers to widows and shut-ins at retirement and ...

The King’s Clothes – Jim Fowler

Once upon a time there was a king. He was king over the vast kingdom of Ecclesiastica. This king was known far and wide for his vain delight in royal vestments. Aware of his propensity to lust after the ego-satisfying need-fulfillment of “pomp and circumstance,” two enterprising con-artists offered to stitch for him some royal finery “fit for a king.” They explained that their product was so extraordinary and supernatural that it was visible only to the elite and knowledgeable, and invisible to those who “did not have eyes to see.” “Take my order,” begged the king. “Money is no object!” The king’s assistants in ...

10 Percent Grace and 90 Percent Law? – by Greg Albrecht

Recently I was asked about a church pastor who preaches 10 percent grace and 90 percent law. Apparently this church has a clock counter on its website to show how fast people are getting to hell. This church believes that one of the methods of "saving" people is to expose their sins, and (by embarrassing them) guilt them into obeying God. This church is but one of many which believes that the Ten Commandments (and at times other portions of the old covenant) must be preached to sinners to prepare them to accept Christ. The idea is taught in several different ways:1) People must be convinced that they have a problem (that they are ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak – Is Noah’s flood story true?

Question Is the narrative about Noah's ark in Genesis a true story? Response Oh, of course the *story* is *true*, just as the *story* of the Prodigal Son is *true,* which is to say, the story is telling us the *truth.* Discovering the truth the story is telling means honoring the genre the story is written in. If we treat a parable as if it is not a parable, and literalize it when Jesus wasn't telling it that way, we may be treating a story as a fact and missing out on its truth. So, to demand a physical address for the Father's house, the names of the prodigal sons, and what type of cow they ate at the banquet would be untrue ...

Five Generations: A Legacy of Love – by Laura Urista

One of my most treasured possessions is a black-and-white photograph of five generations of women in my family. Over the years several people have mentioned to me how unique and rare it is to have a five-generation photo. Pictured here are my great-great grandmother Mietz (seated in the middle), my great-grandmother Fiebick (seated on the far left), my grandmother Olga (affectionately called “Grandma Dee Dee”) and my mom, Charlotte, holding my oldest sister, Sandy, on her lap. This photo was taken in the summer of 1946. I wish I knew more about these wonderful ladies of my lineage. I do know that great-great-Grandma Mietz and great-Grandma ...

The Mother of Us All by Greg Albrecht

Back in 1990, after the Iraqi army was evicted from Kuwait, Saddam Hussein, then the President of Iraq, told his people to prepare for what he called the “mother of all battles” against the American-led coalition forces. Though Hussein did not invent the phrase, since that time the phrase “the mother of all...” has spread through the English language and is often used to define not only the origin or source of something, but also the significance or the greatest example of something. Two Mothers In Galatians 4:21-31, we read the story of two mothers. The historical background to Paul’s lesson is recorded in Genesis 16 and 21. ...

Reflecting On Grace by Ed Dunn

On a recent visit to see my parents, my mother caught me completely by surprise one morning after breakfast. With a smile on her face, she handed me a small treasure buried deep in the palm of her hand. She handed me a white-gold ring. “Here,” she said, “this was your great grandmother Grace’s engagement ring. I want you to have it.” “Whoa, wow!!...really?!…my great grandmother’s engagement ring?” The thought of such a personal and precious item from my great grandmother so many years ago took me back. “I’m honored and flattered, mom, thank you so much!” Beyond that, I was speechless. I didn’t know what else to ...