509 results for tag: blog
When did the ‘Finished Work’ start? Brad Jersak
"It is finished!"
One of the beautiful catchphrases in the Christian tradition is "the finished work of Christ." We typically associated the phrase with Christ's decisive declaration from the Cross, "It is finished!" In this post, I'd like to ask what is finished and when it started.
The words, "It is finished," in Gospel context are found only in John 19:30. The full verse says, "When Jesus had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."
What was finished?
First, the word we usually translate "finished" (Τετέλεσται) is rich in meaning. It could be accurately ...
Why Ask? Why pray for gifts God has already given? Brad Jersak
“Forgive us our trespasses…”
“Lord, have mercy.”
“Come, Holy Spirit.”
The prayers of God’s people are replete with requests for that which God has already graciously and abundantly provided. So why bother? Is praying for the gifts God has already given an act of unbelief, a confusion of theology or an offense to God? Some seem to think so and in a sense, may be right. But both the question and answer are important and far more nuanced than an either/or knee-jerk reaction. What are the perils and what is the point of asking for what we’ve already been given?
THE PERILS
Two obvious perils accompany requests for ...
LOCKED IN! (Who’s Really In Charge?) Cliff Redanz
Amusement parks are not on my list of favorite activities! I decided to go that night mainly to be with other family members. (Plus - one of our daughters had reduced-rate tickets from her employer!)
Among park rides, there are those I could NEVER go on! I'm certainly not alone with such 'hang-ups'. No matter our age, gender, family background, education, etc., various situations lead us to think: “I’d die if I had to do that!” Inventing "comfort zones" for ourselves is not the answer either! We humans aren't even aware of the thought patterns which course through our minds and make us 'tick' as ...
Generosity Without Expectations – Greg Albrecht
A youth group from a prosperous North American suburb volunteered to help a pastor serve meals in an inner-city soup kitchen. Before this experience, most of these young people had only seen homeless people through their car windows as they and their family happened to drive through a poor part of town.
It was just before Thanksgiving, and the young people served a hot meal of beans, turkey, mashed potatoes and yams to a long line of people. As they filed past these young people filling empty plates with generous servings, few of the homeless people made any eye contact with the young people who were serving the free meal, and only a few ...
See How He Loves You – Greg Albrecht
There's a great story about a little boy who was trying to learn the Lord's Prayer. One night he was kneeling down by his bed, and he prayed: "Our Father who are in heaven, how do you know my name?"
St. Augustine, revered as one of the great theologians of the Christian faith, once said that Jesus loves each of us as if there was no one else to love.
Time after time we read in the four Gospels about people Jesus met who felt and experienced his radically personalized, individual affection—no one they had ever known had talked to them, treated them and spent time with them the way Jesus did.
The eyes out of which Jesus saw and ...
Grace Alone – Greg Albrecht
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who ...
“Back-to-Church Sunday” – Greg Albrecht
by Greg Albrecht
Many of the letters I receive are like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates—"you never know what you're gonna get." Recently I received a clever promotional message urging PTM and CWR to participate in "Back-to-Church Sunday."
The letter explained that Back-to-Church Sunday is a great way to get the "unchurched" and the "de-churched" back to church. The coalition responsible for the letter explained that Back-to-Church Sunday is held annually in early to mid September, taking advantage of the time when students are going "back to school." The message implored me to help this new initiative, because, as the message claimed, people's ...
Is the Lord Among Us? Ken Tanner
As Christians, we do not live in denial about the downsides of existence. We do not deny the presence of evil as pestilence, or of evil as a lack of what is good and sustaining for us as creatures, nor do we ever imagine that these depravations are needed by God to bring about the good in us or in creation (please do not listen to teachers who who say such things).
So while squarely facing the realties (with the spectrum of emotions different people feel in troubling times, none of them sinful), we once again hear the first words of the Christian story: Do not be afraid! From within the maelstrom, we trust that the saving hand of God remains with us, ...
The Crucified Jesus – Richard Rohr
They will look upon him whom they have pierced. —John 19:37
Those who “gaze upon” the Crucified long enough—with contemplative eyes—are always deeply healed of pain, unforgiveness, violence, and victimhood. It demands no theological education, just an “inner exchange” by receiving the image within and offering one’s soul back in safe return. It is no surprise that a naked man nailed to a cross is such a deep, archetypal symbol in the Western psyche. It was meant to transform all earthly suffering.
The crucified Jesus offers, at a largely unconscious level, a very compassionate meaning to history. The mystery of the ...
Dream On With Jesus by Greg Albrecht
I Have a Dream—given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963—is one of the most well known, most studied and most quoted speeches in the history of our nation. In that historic speech Dr. King used the phrase “I have a dream” eight different times as he called for freedom and justice for all people.
Daring to dream can be dangerous—particularly when your dream does not march in lock step with the political and religious establishment.
They killed Martin Luther King Jr. because he dared to dream, but they didn’t kill his dream.
Throughout history dreamers who ...
Christmas Presents, Christmas Presence – Irene Frances
CHRISTMAS IS HERE and once again the festivities of this joyous time have begun.
As I thought about Christmas I was reminded of one of my ‘must have’ presents from 2016. I wanted a book on blogging, something that would not only inspire me but would help me create the most amazing blogs ever. Well, 12 months on and this year, so far, I’ve written about three posts; I’m not much further advanced now with my blog than I was back then. Other priorities took over, in other words—Life got in the way. But then my 2016 present is reusable and will do wonders throughout 2018!
A lot of thought goes into our Christmas presents, what to give the ...
Burned out on religion? Irene Frances
MANY YEARS AGO I came across a print of Jesus, a painting by Twentieth Century artist, Richard Hook. What captured my attention was how the eyes of Jesus followed me around the room, gazing upon me regardless of where I sat. I saw in that image the love of God, the gentleness of Jesus and his invitation for us to “Come, follow me.”
Somebody once told me my faith in God is too simplistic, that there is more to him than simply accepting Jesus as Saviour and seeking to live for him. In a sense that is very true, but in another way it is not.
I am deeply concerned at how the Church makes it so difficult for the average person to understand ...
To be like Jesus – Irene Frances
One of the attributes that attracted me to Jesus was his love of people on the edge of society, those who others regarded as untouchable and unlovable. He willingly reached out and touched the leper, the woman who had been haemorrhaging for years and who was considered unclean by Jewish law, the lame, the blind and those possessed by evil spirits. He embraced everyone in their uniqueness, regardless of their situation, with compassion, kindness and care.
Many years ago when my life disintegrated into utter chaos, I believed myself to be something akin to a leper. So great was the devastation of my soul that I regarded myself as nothing but ...
In His Steps – Irene Frances
AS I HAVE continued to mull over what authentic Christian living means, my thoughts turned to the words of the apostle Peter:
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps (1 Peter 2:21, New International Version).
Those words reminded me of the Christian classic, In His Steps, written by Charles Sheldon in the late nineteenth century. In it he relates the story of Reverend Henry Maxwell who challenges his upper middle class congregants to live as Jesus would live, asking themselves before they did anything, “What would Jesus ...
I stand amazed! Irene Frances
I SOMETIMES BECOME overwhelmed with the grandeur of my God, his awesomeness, majesty, might and power, and how, though Creator King, Maker of the Universe, he still has time for us mere mortals.
Shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks in America, I began my morning community radio program with two songs: Bette Midler’s From a Distance, and The Bachelors’ I Believe. The first describes how God watches over us from a distance, the second that in the storms of life he hears our smallest prayers.
Psalm 8’s anthem of adoration to Almighty God captures the paradox that, while launching the sun, moon and stars into space, his thoughts ...
Christ is a Walking, Talking Tree of Life, a Cross in Motion – Kenneth Tanner
"Christ is a walking, talking Tree of Life, a cross in motion, and everywhere he wanders healing comes to the world." - Fr. Kenneth Tanner
2 Sam. 7:1-14a
1After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”
3 Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”
4 But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:
5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build ...
The Jesus I Know – Irene Frances
WHAT IS IT about Christians that they think they can treat other believers with contempt, but not be held responsible for their own bad behaviour? Are we really meant to be all sweetness and angelic niceness towards those who abuse us?
Recently I lost my temper. It was not pretty. I was very angry with a guy, a Christian, who had, for the past twelve months, promised to do a job for me but who had no intention of doing it. When I decided to do the task myself, and was thoroughly enjoying myself, he was not happy. And I reacted, badly. His response was to tell me I was not a good Christian and that I was just having a bad day. I was not amused.
...
A Cold and Broken Hallelujah – response by Brad Jersak
Leonard Cohen's mournful ballad, 'Hallelujah,' moved me to tears from the first time I heard it (covered by Jeff Buckley). Why so? What is this dissonance between the victorious term of praise when sung in the tones of a dirge? What is it to sing 'a cold and broken hallelujah'? (see below)
I cannot speak for Cohen -- though others have (e.g. Liel Leibovitz's A Broken Hallelujah), -- but I can describe my own resonance with my fellow Canadian's lament. The song entrances me with the reality of life and faith beyond the surface narratives of triumphalism. Our 'hosannas' and 'hallelujahs' have too often signaled a desperate stuckness in what we ...
Satan’s Foundational Lie: “As God, ‘Knowing’ Good and Evil – Richard Murray
Here is the fundamental Satanic lie all men have subconsciously internalized--that God is BOTH good AND evil, BOTH love AND wrath, BOTH light AND dark, BOTH healer AND afflicter.
"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be AS, AS, AS God, knowing good AND, AND, AND evil." Genesis 3:4-5 (emphasis added).
Or, put another way, Satan's core lie here was about God's nature -- that God experientially knew good AND evil, that God in fact authored good AND evil, that God ultimately WAS good and evil. So, the "knowledge of good and evil" is ...
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