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 […]

I’m using David DeSilva’s commentary, Perseverance in Gratitude, for a class on Hebrews.  Here’s an excerpt on fostering an imagination-enlivening and flourishing Christian community: Hebrews shows us that we must be very intentional about establishing and preserving Christian community if we are to fulfill our calling to discipleship.  People cannot help but be influenced in their […]

For various reasons and in different ways, Christian communities can become complacent.  Churches can grow weary of “always reforming.”  It starts with the assumption that we’re God’s favorites, that we’ve got it right, that we’re especially God-honoring when so many others have drifted from the truth. We forget that this sort of self-assurance is quite common throughout the […]

By your Word were all things created By your Word were all things given That all might live in your garden Eat the fruit of the land Drink your living water Grow in strength and wisdom Husband and wife Brother and sister Mother and child   God of Peace, sow seeds of hope in barren […]

Roger Olson has a very interesting post on his blog from Mike Clawson, examining the phenomenon of “Neo-fundamentalism.” According to Clawson, the more recent instantiations of fundamentalism typically focus on contemporary social issues like gender roles or sexual orientation. And while they would still agree with earlier fundamentalists on issues of scriptural inerrancy or anti-evolution, their […]

After yesterday’s post, Sarah reminded me that without Cool Whip, my favorite dessert would be impossible: Thank you, technology.

In thinking critically about how the dynamics of social networking technologies shape us, it’s worth keeping in mind what Albert Borgmann calls “the normative pattern of technology.” Borgmann notes that technology has the dynamic of replacement.  A technology replaces one thing with another.  And it usually replaces a richly textured and layered thing with an […]

In her book, Alone Together, Sherry Turkle discusses the changes to friendships brought about by social media. She argues that internet social networks offer the hope of intimate friendship along with control over the dynamics of that friendship.  That is, we can simultaneously hold friends close and keep them at bay. I was thinking the other […]

Welcome to Midtown Christian Community.  Welcome in the name of Jesus Christ, the one who died but now lives and reigns from heaven.  Jesus Christ is our life, and he is on his way to restore the world, to restore and heal us, and to bring us into his eternal kingdom – a kingdom that […]