The Stronger Man
Dear Brothers, Is this the kind of experience a supervising pastor would plan to give his vicar on his first day of training: allowing that student pastor to hear respected church leaders insinuate that the ...
The Far Greater Protection
Dear Brothers, It is sad that Ascension Day is for so many the forgotten church festival (perhaps even passing too easily from our own radar screens?). There's the glorious Jn 14:1-4 ascension truth Josua ...
Didymus’s Twin
Dear Brothers, I think poor Thomas gets a bum rap. There's not one of the Eleven who believed without seeing. Luke reports that not one of them believed the women's eye witness testimony. None ...
Zeal for the Smallest Temple
Dear Brothers, "Zeal for your house will consume me" (John 2:17). Were the disciples stunned when they saw animals bleating and coins rolling? The Spirit doesn't say, but John does tell us Psalm 69 ...
Double Privilege
Dear Treasure Filled Jars of Clay, There was no smoke. No blaring trumpets. No sound of God's voice thundering from heaven. Yet as the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee spoke in Capernaum's synagogue, the ...
Happy Spiritual Birthday
Dear Brothers, November 15,1959 was not a date my family taught me to celebrate. In some ways I wish they had. On that date God's eternal plans forged with my name on it first ...
Stoop to Sandal-Level
Dear Brothers, There's an element of last Sunday's gospel that a preacher would highlight if speaking to fellow preachers. "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I ...
The Oil of Grace
Dear Brothers, Five foolish. Five wise. There's a sobering warning aimed at me in those numbers in Jesus' parable. If only Jesus' warning in the gospel for Saints Triumphant hadn't been spoken in the ...
Cash or Credit
Dear Brothers, "A few dollars." That's the NIV84's footnote in Sunday's gospel suggesting a contemporary equivalent of a 100 denarii debt. Doesn't that miss the point? 100 denarii was 100 days wages for a day ...