Those who have been saved by Jesus are left with a common call: be citizens of his kingdom in our present world. Our faith is spilled out in our actions. This is not in an attempt to save ourselves, but to be ambassadors of Jesus’ kingdom.
Category: Creation
Advent 3: Joy?
It’s easy to get depressed when circumstances don’t go as we plan. Happiness in wavering, though. What we must rest on is joy.
For the Eve of Christ the King
On Good Friday, one man knew Jesus was a king: the condemned thief dying right beside him. Jesus was mocked by Romans, rejected by Jews, and abandoned by his own disciples that day. But for a man at the end of his rope, the only hope was in Jesus being the king he claimed to be.
Liturgical Leanings
Occasionally, seeing how other brothers and sisters in Christ have celebrated and pointed themselves to the gospel over the centuries can enrich our experience of that same gospel all the more
The Artist-Pastor Identity Crisis, Part 2
I was talking with a coworker recently. An English major when he was in college who loves writing stories and reading Dostoevsky, he is now studying at the seminary in order to hopefully plant a church overseas someday. We spoke of stories we liked and environments that seemed to inspire us, like gothic buildings and…
The Magic Places
As children, I think we need these places. We need places where dangers lurk, mysteries lie beneath the surface, and doorways to other worlds wait to be discovered.
Preaching Through Pain
I preached my grandfather’s funeral this past weekend. I was simultaneously saddened by the loss of my grandfather and relieved that his long battle with multiple ailments was over and that he is, to the best of my discernment, now with the Lord. I have been told multiple times that a preacher should not officiate…
How Advent Saved Christmas
I hate Christmas. The stress, the materialism, the consumerism, the deception, and the overall empty, kitschy, humanist messages unsettle me. Then came Advent.
Cinema Gothic: The 1950s
In the 1950s, Universal ventured into new waters with The Creature from the Black Lagoon, while a small studio in England reinvented the characters that had made Universal great for a new generation.
Cinema Gothic: The 1930s (part 2)
The 1930s continued onward, with each film bringing more nuanced characters and plot-lines into the mix and, with them, some of the most striking performances on film.
