Grace and sin
A number of pastoral issues have arisen recently which have brought home to me some particular truths and some particular emphases arising from them. Many of these situations are on the fringes of church life or outside it (though I…
Category Reformation21
Does Liturgy or Music Keep Minorities Away from Our Church? (Part 4)
Crown and Joy Presbyterian Church, in Richmond, VA, celebrated its ninth Sunday on December 21, 2014. Time seems to be moving quite quickly. Before you know it, if the Lord wills, we will have finished our series through the book…
Mindfulness or the mind of Christ
The singularly brilliant Christian apologist of the seventeenth century, Blaise Pascal, noted the existential reality that the human condition was one of inconstancy, boredom and anxiety. For him, the only real cure was made known in history by the God…
Wesley and Pelagius
For century after century, one man has been the bogeyman of Western theology. He’s the bad guy. The one nobody wants to be like. Yes, you guessed it: that old Welsh heretic, Pelagius. For centuries the malign influence of his…
Walking with God
A nugget from Robert Bolton’s Some General Directions for a Comfortable Walking with God (London, 1626): By walking with God, I mean, a sincere endeavour, punctually and precisely to manage, conduct, and to dispose all our affairs, thoughts, words and…
The Seven Deadly Sins in a Digital Age: 7. Pride
Now as we conclude our series, we come at last to the vice of Pride, “the Great Sin” as C.S. Lewis calls it, and as the Christian tradition has consistently taught. It is both the first and the last of…
Psalter Theology: Royalty over Democracy
The language of royalty is pervasive in the Psalms. “Rule,” “king” and their cognates appear 98 times in the Psalms (and the figurative words “throne,” “rod,” or “scepter” appear 26 times). Kings govern their kingdoms via statutes or laws, and…
Psalter Theology: Royalty over Democracy
The language of royalty is pervasive in the Psalms. “Rule,” “king” and their cognates appear 98 times in the Psalms (and the figurative words “throne,” “rod,” or “scepter” appear 26 times). Kings govern their kingdoms via statutes or laws, and…
A Tale of Christmas, Kirk, and King
As is generally known, the Scottish reformers took a dimmer view of Christmas festivities than their continental peers. When Knox and company drafted the (First) Book of Discipline for the newly Reformed Kirk, they identified Christmas — along with “holy…
Jesus and Jacob
This is the fifth of my Christmas devotionals focused on the pre-incarnate appearances of Christ in the Old Testament. Previous devotionals focus on Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Joshua. Jesus and Jacob When we think of Jesus appearing in the…