Human praise is short-lived. Whether it’s my students, the conference organizers, or publishers, praise is not always on their lips. And we see the same happening for Jesus. Read more…
Do I Really Need a Sabbath? (Scholar’s Compass)
The key to Sabbath is to trust God rather than ourselves. Read more…
The Hope of Eternity
Our goal is to leave behind a physical and spiritual legacy that will bless those who come behind us.Read more…
The Tension of Passion and People
In the everyday work of relationships and tasks, we can still fulfill our purpose as we focus on our Father who walks with us.Read more…
Healing
Dear LORD. May we remember your marvels throughout creation and in all nations. May Your people continue to look for the awesome things You will do with us. Amen. (A prayer based on Exodus 34:10)Read more…
Lenten Healing in the Psalms
Healing occurs because we are directed to dependence on Christ.Read more…
Lent: Public and Private Healing
Lent is a time of healing.Read more…
Good Friday: Jesus Dies on the Cross
Sitting in a Good Friday service at the cathedral, I’m trying to hold it together. Rejected in a relationship. Uncertain about my job. Lost.Read more…
Making the Second City Church Lenten Cross
I professed faith in Christ in 1970, right as I was completing my M.F.A. in sculpture. I was living in Baltimore, where I studied at the Rinehart School of Sculpture, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). The results of my conversion were mixed. My behavior certainly changed in some positive ways, but artistically I was stymied. I could not find any contemporary role models.Read more…
The Perfection of our Praise: Reclaiming our Inner Folly on Palm Sunday (Scholar’s Compass)
Palm Sunday clarifies the purpose of Lent. It reminds us that our repentance is ordered toward a God who uses the foolish and weak things of this word to confound it. Viewed through Palm Sunday, Lent serves as preparation for an encounter with folly.Read more…
Fifth Sunday of Lent: Jesus Speaks to His Mother and the Disciple
Looking on the scene of the crucifixion is painful. Roman guards drive nails through Jesus’ flesh and his body writhes in pain. You hold your breath while they raise the cross with Jesus pinned to it.Read more…
Fourth Sunday of Lent: Jesus is Helped by Simon the Cyrenian to Carry the Cross
After being flogged, Jesus starts his final journey to the crucifixion site. Imagine being in the crowds watching on the side of the road as he comes stumbling along the way, barely able to walk, let alone carry the weight of the cross. Read more…
Third Sunday of Lent: Jesus is Judged by Pilate
Friends, religious authorities, and now politicians are part of the community that abandons Jesus. Along the path we are now out of the garden and in front of the Roman governor’s residence, a structure whose architecture conveys great power and wealth. Watching from the outside, we wonder if we should even be here.Read more…
Second Sunday of Lent: Jesus, Betrayed by Judas, is Arrested
Along the path we are walking, we haven’t gone very far. Perhaps just a few steps as Jesus walks over a final time to where the disciples are sleeping. Though the location may be the same as where we left off last week, it also seems miles away. Read more…
First Sunday of Lent: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
Over the six weeks of Lent, I invite you to journey along the road Jesus took to the cross. We’ll be stopping at six of the stations on which Christians have reflected over the centuries to remember what happened along the path from Gethsemane to Calvary.Read more…
Science Corner: Get Healthy Fast
This study is the latest result among many which show a range of health benefits from restricting calorie intake or fasting in some fashion.Read more…
Science Corner: Road Grace
We might insist drivers get their act together, but a more pragmatic solution is to improve traffic models. Instead of assuming all drivers act the same way, we should account for actual human behavior. In other words, we need to add some grace to our traffic planning.Read more…
Palm Sunday (Prayer)
Almighty and everliving God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our flesh . . .Read more…
Science Corner: Go with God
What’s more striking to me is how counter-intuitive God’s solution is. No one expected the Messiah to die. No one expected the King of Kings to be coronated at his funeral. What comes naturally to us may not be part of God’s best plan for us.Read more…
Fifth Sunday of Lent (Prayer)
O Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men . . .Read more…
The Passion and the Punctuated Day
It is not as mysterious as one might think. It testifies to a view of time as consisting of thresholds to be crossed, not containers to be filled. It emphasizes certain moments/thresholds as particularly meaningful. They serve as dividers between different periods. Crossing them is not moving from one uniform hour to the next, but moving from one state of being to another.Read more…
Fourth Sunday of Lent (Prayer)
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread . . . Read more…
Third Sunday of Lent (Prayer)
Stir up thy power, O Lord, and with great might come among us.Read more…
Cockcrow, Darkness, and the Coming Light
Cockcrows and astronomical twilight are not durations, but temporal thresholds—significant, transformative moments. The story of Peter’s denial is not just one of time passing while he denies, but of the second cockcrow being a moment of revelation—a moment of insight in which Peter reflects on his denials and weeps, and a moment that changes Peter forever.Read more…