Paul’s prayer for Philemon in Phmn 6 is very interesting.  It’s seldom translated well, however. The new NIV is an improvement over the older rendering.  The 1984 version made it seem that Paul was praying for Philemon to be a more effective evangelist: “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so […]

“What I like to tell people is that the things that you get fired for when you’re young—the things that run against the grain, that are not common or logical, that don’t fit into the standard approach—are the exact same things that you win lifetime achievement awards for when you’re old . . . the things […]

The Giants and Patriots played an excellent game last night.  The Super Bowl is the biggest football game of the year, but there have been many disappointing games.  This one was a thriller that came down to the very last play. The halftime show was typical—overblown and uninteresting. Sports Illustrated lists their top ten Super Bowl […]

*A homily, originally given at Midtown Christian Community, Feb. 7, 2009.    Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity […]

God of storm and rain cloud of wind and biting cold of hail, thunder and flood. In darker days, loud and fearful days we see something of your awesome power and recognize our own weakness, our own inability to control the elements. God of sunshine and birdsong of calm mists and warm breezes slow moving […]

Last night our class discussed the Jewish generation within which Jesus conducted his ministry.  Though diverse, the broader culture was thoroughly saturated in a biblical worldview.  They were passionately seeking the glory of God, the vindication of his name, the arrival of his promised one, and the return of God’s presence among his people. Corrupted […]

John Piper spoke about the “manly” ministry of J. C. Ryle the other day and stated that “God has given Christianity a masculine feel.”  You can find the full text here, and a news item on his statements here. Rachel Held Evans called for men to respond to Piper here, and Scot McKnight summarized Piper’s comments here. […]

I was up early this past Sunday morning.  After reading for a while and enjoying my coffee in the early morning quiet, I went downstairs to check on the Australian Open men’s final.  It was 6:45 a.m. Novak Djokovic was playing Rafael Nadal and I figured I could catch the end of it before waking […]

At the end of his chapter on Jesus’ death in Simply Jesus, Wright has a brilliant summary of God’s triumph over evil–and the evil one–in the death of Jesus. Somehow, Jesus’s death was seen by Jesus himself, and then by those who told and ultimately wrote his story, as the ultimate means by which God’s kingdom […]