How Joseph Saved Christmas
Christmas is the time of year we remember and celebrate the birth of the long-awaited Son of the David, who would (and has) saved us from our sins. But did you know that the first Christmas almost didn’t happen? …
Tag authority of Scripture
A Walk of Imitation: Ephesians 5:1-2
“Therefore, become imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2). In much Jewish thought the idea of imitating God was anathema. With the…
A Walk Distinguished: Ephesians 4:17-19
Sometimes the best example is the worst example. In my years of teaching and coaching at the high school and college levels, I often revealed to my students and athletes not merely how I wanted something done, but how it…
Jaroslav Jan Vajda – Singing the Language of Today’s Hearts
Jaroslav Jan Vajda – Singing the Language of Today’s Hearts While shaving in front of his bathroom mirror, Jaroslav Jan Vajda, then editor of the former Lutheran magazine This Day, wondered how to fill a blank page for an…
A Walk of Unbelief: Ephesians 2:1-3
A Walk of Unbelief: Ephesians 2:1-3 A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step – Laozi Every story has a beginning. In many stories, the protagonist lives an idyllic –albeit plain– existence until some exogenous influence disrupts…
Communicable Attributes: God is Holy
When I was a young teen trying to get comfortable in my own skin words were a commodity that could make or break you. Utter one wrong word and social standing could be tenuous. The best you could do was…
Ann Griffiths and Her Sea of Wonders
Ann Griffiths and Her Sea of Wonders “O to spend my life in a sea of wonders!”[1] Ann wrote in one of her poems. And her life, spent in a Welsh farm in the small village of Dolwar-Fach, was…
Scipione Lentolo – A Firm Hand in Unstable Times
Scipione Lentolo – A Firm Hand in Unstable Times John Calvin didn’t have a good opinion of Italians. Basing his judgment on the scholars he had met, he thought they were too skeptical, too eager to get embroiled…
How to Love Our Neighbors (part 2): By Keeping the Law
One of the great sites of Jerusalem is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Archaeologists have confidence that this sprawling church is located near the spot of Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus likely was buried and therefore emerged from the tomb either…
William Shedd and the Genocide of Assyrian Christians
William Shedd and the Genocide of Assyrian Christians William Ambrose Shedd was born January 24, 1865, in the mountain village of Seir, near Urmia, in today’s Northwestern Iran, near Turkey. About one quarter of the population at that time was…