522 results for tag: blog
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.
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“God is Love BUT …” Brad Jersak
"Everything before the word 'BUT' is horse sh*t." - Game of Thrones
I've heard this statement elsewhere as "Nothing someone says before the word 'but' really counts," especially when an affirmation of love is immediately followed by its negations. The aphorism is loaded with wisdom and experience. Even if you feel that love compels you to bring a word of critique or correction, if you use love as your opening salvo to bring someone down, you'll bring love down with them. It's a big relational mistake... unless it's a case of deliberate 'gaslighting,' which is abusive.
How much more so with God! Does Jesus say, "God so love the world BUT..." ...
Just Fans…Or Members of His Team? by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from April 2014
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” – 1 Corinthians 15:54
Death has been swallowed up in victory is our victory song! Choirs in heaven sing praises to Jesus, our risen Lord. Here on earth we also sing praises to Jesus and we joyfully remind each other that he is risen! Resurrection Sunday is the grand finale climactic tribute to Jesus because of his triumphant, all encompassing, once and for all – once for all – victory over death and the ...
The Cross: God’s Eternal Mercy Seat – Brad Jersak
The celebration of Easter this month once again places the Cross of Christ and his resurrection front and center of our faith, as they should be. These events comprise a hinge-point in the human story and what theologians have called “salvation history.” The New Testament witness not only records what occurred but also reflects upon the meaning of those occurrences as good news—our gospel.
Unveiling the meaning of the crucifixion is of particular importance to the apostles, because they are convinced that it spelled more than a tragic end to the life of Jesus. Somehow, the Cross is essential groundwork for the reconciliation of all ...
The Great Descent – “A Harrowing Exit” – Brad Jersak
The Great Descent
The Law, the Psalms and the Prophets forecast it.The Gospels and the Epistles allude to it.Ancient Christian hymns, liturgies and poetry announce it.It permeates both Eastern and Western theological tradition.It even has its own line in the Apostles’ Creed.
But only recently has Christ’s conquest of Hades caught the attention of moderns. It’s so central to the gospel message that its omission requires correction.
The same events go by various names—the great descent, the harrowing of hades, Christus Victor. But they all refer to the narrative that culminates in the resurrection of Christ before dawn on ...
Victory Through Christ by Greg Albrecht
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 15:57
Victory! Unless your favorite sports team just won an important game, victory is not a word in high demand over the past few years. So much in our world previously defined as successful and prosperous has changed over the past few years. Of recent dates, instead of progress and growth we have seen and endured much more chaos and upheaval. So many of the routines of daily life are new or at least modified, completely unlike the world before COVID.
Physical life can seem to be running smoothly and efficiently until it doesn’t. We all know, ...
The Joker and the Thief – Henry Sturcke
An unusual LP appeared in stores just after Christmas 1967. The timing and lack of fanfare seemed a conscious counterpoint to the shopping frenzy that precede Christmas.
The LP, John Wesley Harding, confounded those who’d followed Dylan before this. Both lyrically and musically, the album stood in stark contrast to his previous release, Blonde on Blonde. After the dense verbal swirl of Blonde’s lengthy songs, these were brief and understated. And in place of a thicket of sound, we hear a voice, acoustic guitar, and harmonica, subtly supplemented by drums, bass guitar, and (on the final two tracks) steel guitar. It seemed not only a ...
His Kiss by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from April 2022
While I had many problems with Bible teaching when I was a teenager (particularly how it was interpreted and administered in the church my parents attended), I remember being in favor of one of Paul’s oft-repeated concluding statements in his letters. “Greet one other with a holy kiss” (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12 and 1 Thessalonians 5:26) sounded like wise advice to me, particularly if the kiss involved an attractive female of my age.
But before my “gospel of kissing girls because the Bible commanded it” could ever pick up much traction, a stick-in-the-mud ...
I Fought the Law – Greg Albrecht
In 1966 the Bobby Fuller Four recorded a top ten hit called “I Fought the Law”—here are the lyrics in the first verse: I’m breakin’ rocks in the hot sun I fought the law and the law won.
The physical image that breakin’ rocks in the hot sun brings to mind is of the endless, soul destroying labor performed by prison inmates—back in the day, soul destroying labor often included breaking rocks with sledgehammers on the proverbial hard rock pile. Prisoners broke the law and now the law returned the favor.
Breaking rocks on the hard rock pile is, of course, an intentionally meaningless exercise— and “meaningless exercise” ...
Looking At Life From The Outside In – by Ed Dunn
Thirty-six years ago, I began to lose the ability to see whatever it was I was looking at directly. I began to lose my central vision. As a college freshman at the time, new to the Los Angeles, California area from the hills and hollows of rural Western Pennsylvania, I was already somewhat overwhelmed by my “big-city” environment. To suddenly and most unexpectedly face the deterioration of my eyesight, after a life of perfect, 20/20 vision to that point, I must admit, I was completely terrified. How would I go on? How would I find my way with so much of life yet ahead of me?
Following a long journey of eye doctor visits and the related ...
Who Killed Jesus? – Greg Albrecht
It's high noon in Dry Gulch. Two lone figures are walking down the dusty street, getting closer and closer to their inevitable face-off.
According to religious interpretations, God the Father is the good guy on the streets of Dry Gulch. God is the Lawman—the quickest and fastest draw ever. Nobody ever gets the drop on God.
The bad guy? That would be, according to religion, you and me. God the Lawman has said “enough already.” He has called us out and we are approaching the gates of hell.
Our mothers told us if we didn’t change our ways, we would pay a severe penalty. Our pastors and priests warned us about God’s wrath. ...
Kanzo Uchimura – Ruth Tucker
Ruth Tucker
My Dear Teacher, Junki Chung. That’s the salutation I use when I write to a former student who would go on for doctoral work under Martin Marty at the University of Chicago. After that, ministries in America and Korea. Finally, a seminary professor in his homeland and inviting me to speak and to tour that beautiful land of the morning calm. The presentations were spell-binding, eliciting variously gasps of shock, sighs of sadness, and hearty laughter. I’ve never before or since held an audience like that. Dare I say, he was a dazzling translator who was able to transform an ordinary lecture into an electrifying oration. I had no ...
The Chain Gang – Jim Fowler
Jim Fowler
For some there was the slight semblance of the synchophonic sound of church bells. But it was, instead, the clanging of chains as the prisoners performed their duties. Their day began with roll-call, responding to their assigned identification number. Then, dressed in the dreary uniformity that dissipates individuality, and manacled together in bondage, they marched out to perform their monotonous tasks. The obligatory service having been performed under the watchful eye of the taskmaster, the prisoners filed back into the vaulted dungeon to be fed a bland diet and to engage in the socialization of their chants. They were psyching ...
The Meaning of Life – by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from March 2016
In one of my favorite Peanuts cartoon strips, Snoopy the beagle sits on top of his doghouse and forlornly ponders: “Where am I going? What am I doing? What is the meaning of life?”
#1 – we are born, we go to school and then, when we grow up, we hope to get a job. BUT is gaining knowledge and having a job the meaning of life? Teenagers and young adults often feel they will find the meaning of life with someone who will love them forever.
#2 – however, when young people get a little older many get a job, find the love of their life, marry and have children many discover ...
Connected To The Vine by Laura Urista
Have you ever read a familiar scripture and suddenly it’s as if someone flipped on the proverbial light switch? I experienced one of those aha moments when reading John 15:1-12. I thought to myself, “Hey wait a minute, did it always say that?” So I checked several translations just to make sure! In John 15:1-12, Jesus is talking to his disciples about the vine and the branches.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ...
Now More Than Ever…Look Up! – Stuart Segall
When we raise our periscopes, we are reminded that the world churns and burns around us. We see that hatred continues to grow, and even the climate tells us other universal storms could be brewing.
We may sing “what the world needs now is love sweet love” but we just as much need hope.
I love the song below because it talks about the hope that starts with forgiveness. It points toward what we all need..." better days". Did you catch the “bingo” in the message? “Hope starts with forgiveness”. Otherwise, you just have a “ceasefire” which in reality is just an absence of war or fighting on what is likely, a tempor...
Amid the Brain Fog of Wartime – Brad Jersak
On Ash Wednesday, 2022, I write from a window-facing easy-chair, glancing over my laptop at the Northern Flicker pecking seed from a feeder, grasping for moments of stillness of heart. As an educator, I’m faced with the challenge of grading book reports and prepping lessons amid the brain fog of wartime, having spent an hour on Zoom on Tuesday, hearing the lament of a Ukrainian priest in Lviv between bomb shelter alarms. It’s hard to recall why what I do matters in the shadow of vacuum bombs and civilian casualties that have the stamp of approval from Christian nationalists. I’m tempted with despondency even as I recline in my place of ...
The Cross in David’s Confession (Psalm 51) – Brad Jersak
As I’ve stated in A More Christlike Word and previous articles, the Psalms often begin with what seem to be musical superscriptions. These ‘liner notes’ also frequently signal Messianic content, especially with the words, “To the end” (mistranslated “for the choir director” in many Bibles).
“To the end” or “Unto the telos” is like a dedication to the coming One—the Messiah—who would fulfill the words of the Psalm as Israel’s Deliverer, especially through the Cross of Christ. The Psalm will anticipate a telos—a completion or fulfillment—an “it is finished” through the good news ...
Living a Life of Love – Greg Albrecht
God doesn’t need us to love him, but he not only takes pleasure in sharing the essence of who he is, he produces his very love in us, empowering us by his grace to pass that same love on to others, in thought and action.
We are loved, not because we are particularly lovable, but because God is love. We often make the distinction that love is not merely one of many attributes of God. The Bible clearly defines God as love. Love is the essence of who God is.
Some miss the point when they think that doing good things and behaving in a moral or appropriate way is the same as sharing God’s love. Our good deeds do not transform us into ...
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