Via the magic of the Internet, comes the knowledge that at least one person, and probably only one person, reads what I write in the town of Stoke-on-Trent, England. I cannot imagine what this reader did to deserve international literary torment, but I appreciate the support.
The mystery of why anyone would Stoke would care about anything I say caused me to follow Stoke and...
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Being single is not good for anyone.
God affirms this in Genesis when he says of the first man “it is not good to be alone.” People went from one to two so that we could, in some mysterious way, imitate the natural fellowship in God.
If you are alone, then you know the wisdom of that Biblical story.
There is, however, a weird belief that if one is not married the...
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Here is the Shel Silverstein poem entitled "Merry..."
No one's hangin' stockin's up,
No one's bakin' pie,
No one's lookin' up to see
A new star in the sky.
No one's talkin' brotherhood,
No one's givin' gifts,
And no one loves a Christmas tree
On March the twenty-fifth.
I mention it today just because it's March 25, and because my 8-year-old is practicing her handwr...
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The death of Elizabeth Taylor marked the passing of a woman that my father’s generation made famous for her beauty. Her talent as an actor (you could call them actresses in her day) was off and on, but her talent as a personality never waned.
It seems impossible to understand, really understand, the women thought beautiful in a different generation. They aren’t all that...
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I'm planning to be up to speed with the Kindle just about the time it's being phased out in favor of the next big thing. Call it my new media strategy.
But I certainly see the benefits of e-books, and am looking forward to a trans-Atlantic flight this summer without 30 pounds of books in my luggage. And if my students and I can all get on the same digital page, we'll cut ou...
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Love moves the heavens and the stars. Love created the universe and love will win in the end. Rob Bell did not say this—Dante did—and Dante believed in Hell. Dante also thought all of us, including himself, in danger of going there for all eternity.
Dante believed in Hell, because of reason, reading the Bible, and because of love. If love is to win, then Hell must exist....
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If you were the Jewish girl named Mary, it was about this time of the year that your life changed. Nine months from now it would Christmas, but the pain and party of that blessed day was far away.
Sometime about now if you were Mary, then you had to say "yes" to God.
First the annunciation. Mary said "yes" and God came down and dwelt among us.
Sometime this week Christ...
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I couldn't let the 326th birthday of the great Kappelmeister go by without some short reflection on my favorite choral piece, the great St. Matthew Passion.
As a devout Lutheran, Bach heavily meditated on the passion of Christ, influenced heavily by Martin Luther's theology of the cross. For Luther, Christ as the "suffering servant" is the paradigmatic image of God's rev...
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Featured Essay
I have never experienced greater pain than hearing "no" from someone I loved. Friends have heard "no" from spouses and that "no" never changed. Remarriage made reconciliation impossible, forever impossible, and these friends had to go on with life.
The hardest "no" I ever heard plunged me into depression and pain. There was no happy ending to that particular story; there cou...
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Eugene Peterson wrote a blurb for Rob Bell's new book on hell.
His comments in a recent interview are worth noticing, because it points to a problem. He is careful not to agree with Bell, but makes it very hard to disagree with him.
Rob Bell has views that are (at least) similar to those that early founders of Evangelicalism explicitly rejected (as their college creeds ...
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Having read
examined
and digested
this pamphlet in book's clothing on my Kindle ...
Where the publisher gouged me for more than the usual amount proving in publishing love may not always win, but Harper-Collins always does. Rob Bell wrote a blog post on hell, called it a book, and p.r. won.
And I wondered if the older brother "getting it all" in the Father's will mad...
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O! Canada!
As Sarah Palin jets to India to gain foreign policy credentials, I followed her example by jetting to Canada. This is important, because in our house I make all the Important Decisions such as trade policy toward other nations. Hope decides less important issues such as what we eat, wear, and where we live.
I want to help others called to my key role and so ha...
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