Why Bethlehem, of all places in the world? Why should the Savior of all peoples everywhere land here – in “the little town of Bethlehem”? Surely our wonderful Lord might have done better! Heaven must have known, for example, that … (read more)
It turns out that the earth is rather smaller than previously estimated. I learned of the discrepancy just the other day. Researcher Axel Nothnagel of the University of Bonn discovered the error, having recently completed a measure of the earth’s … (read more)
I have been thinking lately of a little word from the New Testament — a word, like so many, that has changed dramatically over the years. It is a little word with big implications — paroikos, from which we derive … (read more)
“I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified….” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2) September brings us an ancient commemoration in the ecclesiastical calendar: “Holy Cross Day.” It falls every year on September 14. The day commemorates the … (read more)
“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). This year marks the 300th birthday of the “father of modern taxonomy.” It is possible that you … (read more)
It is a little word, in many ways, and unassuming. Yet it is large enough to convey our deepest Christian identity — and our mandate as Christians in the world. “Kaleo,” in New Testament Greek. “Called.” “In the use of … (read more)
“Let the little children come to me,” Jesus said. “For it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs” (Matthew 19:13-15). But the kingdom of heaven has missed a few of the little ones recently, it seems. … (read more)
I can picture the disciples even now. How earnest (and pathetic) they must have appeared, on that first Ascension Day! Jesus was gone. And there they stood, drop-jawed, staring away after him. Motionless. As if suddenly overcome by some kind … (read more)
Let me give you a word for Holy Week. “Krinantas.” You will find the word in one of my favorite Holy Week verses, 2 Corinthians 5:14. There are a series of wonderful Holy Week words in this little verse. We … (read more)
Every Wednesday morning we gather in our Minneapolis offices around a cup of coffee, a moment of prayer, and an encounter with the Word of God. For a few weeks, now, we have been reading Paul’s wonderful epistle to the … (read more)