We prayed this for Springfield last year during an Epiphany prayer service (find it here).  You can adapt it as you pray for your town or city. Lord, we pray for the flourishing of Springfield From you, O Lord. We pray for the lasting peace of this city From you, O Lord. We pray for […]

I love Paul’s little letter to Philemon.  There’s far more there than you’d think and it’s easy to pass it by without giving it too much thought.  It’s likely a crispy page in many Bibles! As I said the other day, this is how I’d translate Paul’s prayer report in v. 6: “I pray that […]

Who is this Yankees player and why is he a cautionary tale for a current New York athlete? First person to get it right wins a copy of Daniel Kirk’s wonderful new book, Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? Update: We have a winner! My old friend Chris Coyle got the two-parter.  It is indeed […]

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. […]