How should Christians think about Jews? For that matter, how should Jews think about Christians? The relationship between Jews and Christians has been strained right from the very start. It was a mob of Jews …
Taking God Seriously
View PostChristian Origins #4 - Acts
I remember my first experience with power. It was behind the wheel of a 1948 Chevrolet. Granted, by today’s standards, that is not a lot of power, but it was power to me. If I …
Christian Origins #3 - Acts
Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at …
Christian Origins #2 - Acts
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled …
Christian Origins #1 - Acts
How many hundreds of millions of Christians are there in the world by now? What is your guess? Well, I looked it up. Christianity of all stripes is the largest religion in the world and …
The Seventh Sabbath
There were three major periods in the preparation of the apostles for the work that laid ahead of them: first, they had three-and-a-half years of watching Jesus work; hearing him teach; asking him questions; and, …
The Power of the Spirit
View PostWater Baptism #2
Sometimes it takes a while to mess up your life. Sometimes you can do it pretty quickly. And the odd thing about it is how terribly hard it is to turn it around, and how …
Water Baptism #1
There is something truly satisfying about the Christian rite of baptism. I’ve baptized a lot of people in my time, and I never tire of seeing the joy on the faces of people who are …
About Pentecost
View PostChristian Holidays #9
Of all the Christian holidays, the one that surprises me the most is Pentecost. It surprises me that every Christian does not observe it. After all, it is the birthday of the New Testament church. …
The Power to Love
A man can live without food…for a while. He can live on short rations for quite a while. But sooner or later the body withers and dies. We know what it looks like, because we …
The Gospel of John #12
I can understand why Jewish leaders were concerned about Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ. If I were Jewish, I would probably feel the same way. I know I am profoundly disturbed by …
The Gospel of John #11
It’s fascinating that the longest discourse of Jesus in the entire New Testament is also the most private, the most intimate, the most personal. It is the night of the Last Supper and he’s going …
Everything Is Beautiful
I used to wonder at the decay of popular music in all of its forms. Why wasn’t anyone writing beautiful music? It seemed almost as though they had lost the ability. And then I read …
The War for Your Children
Not a few Christian folk are beginning to worry. They’re thinking that they may be losing the culture war. The strongest evidence they see: their young people are abandoning the faith in droves. You know, …
The Fifth Sabbath
I think the disciples had spent the last five weeks in a state of shock. They were running high before Jesus was arrested and crucified, and it’s hard to imagine their thoughts after he was …
A Mother to Remember
What would happen to you if you were down and out and there was no one to help? Where would you be if you were sick and broke in a strange city with no place …
Love the Little Children
With Mother’s Day approaching, did it ever occur to you who it is that actually makes Mother’s Day possible, meaningful? Children, exactly. Without children, there’s no mother; and without mothers, there’s no Mother’s Day. So, …