503 results for tag: blog

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 ...

What Does – ‘We are Not Under the Law but Under Grace’ – Really Mean? by Greg Albrecht

Many professing and church-going Christians fail to realize what "we are not under the law but under grace" means. Most agree that it's God's grace and not anything we can do that will make us right with God. Most realize and accept that Christians don't follow the rites and rituals of the Old Testament but they are often confused about the Ten Commandments. They believe that the Ten Commandments (except seventh-day Sabbath-keeping) are valid and required norms of behavior. Here's the Christ-centered perspective we need. When Jesus died on his cross, he completed all the terms of the old covenant. He had kept its terms perfectly, and on his ...

Jesus Is Our Center – by Greg Albrecht

Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and you are willing to kill to get it.  You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.  (James 4:1, MSG)   If you have not noticed, our world today is as divided and at odds as it has been for a long time.  The divide is not just nationalistic between nations who are either rattling sabers or perhaps openly at war, the divide is not just political between political parties, ...

Love Is… And Love Is Not – by Greg Albrecht

Friend and Partner Letter from May 2022 Love IS patientLove IS kind.Love is NOT envious.Love does NOT boast.Love is NOT proud.Love is NOT rude.Love is NOT self-seeking.Love is NOT easily angered.Love does NOT keep a record of wrongs.Love does NOT delight in evil, rather it rejoices in truth.Love protects.Love trusts.Love hopes.Love perseveres.Love never fails.—1 Corinthians 13:4-7 The ultimate and sublime demonstration and example of love is the Cross of Christ. There is NO GREATER LOVE than Jesus’ voluntary self-sacrifice for us. When the Cross of Christ was buried in the soil of this earth, Jesus was lifted up (John 12:32). When Jesus ...

Becoming Real – Stuart Segall

It's only been a few days since “Resurrection Weekend.”   Jesus the Son of God, finished his human, earthly life and was cast out of the human life and put in the grave.  Three days and nights later He rose and when He ascended to Heaven, He did, not as man, but Spirit, the ultimate change. As I consider this, the child in me also hangs on to another story. I am in a Velveteen Rabbit mood this wonderful late evening. This children’s story is one of wisdom and understanding on a higher level if you have “eyes to see” Let's look at one small piece of this wonderful and delightful wisdom, written by Margery Williams.   ...

Psalm 22, Good Friday and the Princess Bride

by Carolyn Arends A New Light on a Dark Friday Cry My kids finally saw The Princess Bride, a movie their dad and I have loved since our college days. There is something wonderful about watching your favorite people watch one of your favorite films. In this case, the added bonus was observing the light come into their eyes as they discovered the origin of several quirky things their parents routinely say. “Hey!” they shouted with a shock of recognition when Westley first said, “As you wish”—a line they’ve heard their father utter hundreds of times. Vizzini’s “Inconceivable!” produced a similar response. By the time we got ...

“You Can Sit Here…” – Greg Albrecht

It was the first day of school for Forrest Gump.  As he walked down the aisle of the school bus his peers noticed the braces on his legs – on Forrest’s first attempt to take an empty seat, the occupant on the two-person bench seat spread his hands out, saying that seat was “taken.” As I recall this happened several times until finally, near the back of the bus, Forrest paused next to an empty seat, receiving a beautiful smile from a lovely young lady seated by the window.  Her name was Jenny and she welcomed him, saying “you can sit here…”  Jenny became, as those of us who have seen “Forrest Gump” know (in my ...

The Power of God’s Love by Laura Urista

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.—1 John 4:7-8 (my emphasis)     In the scripture above, we are admonished to “love one another for love comes from God.” The word translated into our English word “love” throughout this passage is the Greek words agapao (verb) or agape (noun). Agapao refers to the supernatural love of God, but that is only part of the meaning. Agapao also refers to the love which arises from a “keen sense of the value and worth of the object loved.” When ...

Jim Fowler and Duke Snider

Jim Fowler Jim Fowler is one of the great friends and mentors of my life – I’m not the only one who is closer to God given Jim’s ministry.  Given a traumatic surgery he has recently endured, allow me to share a few thoughts about my relationship with Jim, a self-sacrificial servant of Jesus.    I first became aware of Jim’s ministry something like 25 years ago.  He was then and still is a rare “find” – I look back and I was like an archaeologist who has found a treasure – something (someone) of great value.  I quickly determined Jim Fowler to be a prolific writer, a consummate and dedicated scholar who ...

Q&R with Brad Jersak: Will Jesus be ashamed of me? Luke 9:26

Question Brad, could you help me to see a more beautiful way of understanding Luke 9:26? "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory, and in the glory of his Father, and of the holy angels." Response That's a difficult passage, isn't it, especially coming from Jesus Christ, the epitome and Incarnation of God's grace and radical hospitality. So when we see a warning so jarring, so out of character with what we know of the Jesus Way, it's good we ask not only what Jesus said or meant, but what he's up to. What is he aiming at with these words? And how might his aim align ...

The Land Dispute – Jim Fowler

Jim Fowler Many centuries ago in the old country a parcel of land was identified and acquired. The old land deed duly records that the property boundary ran “from the large rock on the southeast corner, west to the sea, north to the top of the hill, east to the large oak tree, and south again to the large rock.” Without precision instruments to measure latitudinal and longitudinal bearings and the exact degrees of direction, this type of land demarcation was common in old land deeds. The large rock that marked the southeast corner of the piece of property was immovable and served as the fixed point of bearing for the position of the parcel. ...

Why Did Jesus Die? – Greg Albrecht

"Why did Jesus die?" may seem like an easy question, because the answer seems obvious, doesn't it? Normally, most Christians immediately answer the question something like this: "He died to atone, that is pay for, our sins. As the Lamb of God, he took away the sins of the world, redeeming us from sin through his precious blood. He died that we might die to sin, so that he might live in us, producing his righteousness within us." That answer is true—but it's not the whole story. Much of the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, presents the cross of Christ as a forensic event. That is, God uses the language and word pictures of ...

Who Is It You Are Looking For? Greg Albrecht

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"—John 20:11-15 The religious lynch-mob convened an illegal trial, declared an innocent man guilty and condemned him to death. Of course, it wasn't the ...