Preparing to preach tomorrow, I came across these stirring words in a suprising place: 1. All the blessings which God hath bestowed upon man are of his mere grace, bounty, or favour; his free, undeserved favour; favour altogether undeserved; man…
In 1528 Catholic and Protestant theologians met in the city of Berne to debate a series of topics associated with the burgeoning Reform movement in Switzerland. “The Ten Theses of Berne” focused on issues such as the nature of the…
The recent execution of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya by the murderous Islamic group ISIS has prompted appropriate and helpful Christian reflections (see here and here). But one question I have yet to see asked is, “Is it time now…
David Mills has picked up on the in-house Protestant exchange at Ref21 on Lent. He offers some Roman Catholic thoughts here. We disagree on a lot of very important theology but on this issue, we are in agreement: Be one…
Well this is strange. My daughter was playing a song called "Car Radio" off her phone while we were riding in the car and something about it made me think of cancer. Well, not just cancer in general, but cancer…
The credits roll. The hero and/or heroine (fling in a plural or two as appropriate) mount their horses, or link their arms, or climb aboard, or do something else redolent of completion, and disappear into the sunset. Some measure of…
Have you ever wondered what it must have been like when Christ entered heaven after having ascended? This was a unique moment in redemptive history, and one that we should probably meditate upon a lot more than we do. At…
At the outset of the Anglican baptismal liturgy, an eighteenth-century rector would say “Dearly beloved, for as much as all men are conceived and born in sin. . .I beseech you to call upon God.” Ask God, he urged, to…
Mark McDowell persuaded me to return briefly to Ref21 on the promise of pre-empting the annual TGC/YRR Ashandlentfest and, as a side attraction, the possibility of arousing the Anglicans from their dogmatic slumbers. It plays out here: The trap baited.…
Charles Spurgeon suggested that the pastoral prayer may be the most important element of the church’s corporate worship. That may have been a bit of hyperbole. It may even be apocryphal. But I would suggest that a time for the…
