Reformation21

Starting Monday, and every weekday thereafter during 2010, Ref21 will inlcude a brief devotional blog based on a reading from McCheyne's famous calendar. Check the front page on Monday for the link (it should appear on the left hand side in the same spot as the Calvin blog of 2009). Can't say I've...

A happy and blessed 2010 from Bonnie Scotland. I have been dipping again into Pilgrim's Progress, and was very moved by the passage in which Bunyan describes Christian being entertained in the Palace Beautiful, situated between Hill Difficulty and the Valley of Humiliation. May this be our...

Here's a great quote from Marilynne Robinson's essay on "Puritans and Prigs" in The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought (p. 153): "The way we speak and think of the Puritans seems to me a serviceable model for important aspects of the phenomenon we call Puritanism. Very simply, it is a great...

As always, I was deeply blessed by special services of worship celebrating the birth (and life and death and resurrection) of Jesus the Christ. Of particular joy and comfort this year were the following verse from Paul Gerhardt (one of the absolute best hymn-writers): Hark! a voice from yonder...

One of Milton's earliest poems, from when he was around 21 and at Cambridge, is entitled "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity." I think Carl was at Cambridge when he was 21. Not sure, though, if he was writing poetry. Anyway, back to Milton. Here's the first stanza: This is the month, and this the...

By now I'm sure you have all seen Tim Keller, both from the back and peering above the fold, on USA Today's Cover for Thursday, December 17, for the story on multiple site churches. The article singles out Keller for so far resisting the urge to appear on video, instead scrambling about New York to...

Just when you thought that everything written and preached by C.H. Spurgeon had been published, along comes this volume from Day One PUblications, publishing 45 sermons for the first time in a gathered volume. C.H. Spurgeon's Sermons Beyond Volume 63 is subtitled 'An authentic supplement to the...

Some rare footage of Steve Nichols as a college student has recently been released on the internets: http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2009/12/lunch_break_guy_1.html

Don't miss Paul Helm's annual Christmas message here

I'm reading, Welcoming Justice: God's Movement Toward Beloved Community (IVP, just published) By Charles Marsh and John Perkins (foreword by Philip Yancey). I have met John Perkins many times (interestingly more often than not, on board airplanes when we have been placed next to each other). He is...