The Book of Psalms is often referred to as the Bible’s hymnbook. It’s not just honey-sweet, flowery poetry, but includes raw, vengeful storming, tearful pleading, and rage-against-injustice meltdowns. There’s also…
The most dizzying series of miracles and displays of Covenant love had just propelled the Israelites into an all-new season, an all-new territory. For the past four centuries, nothing close…
Four centuries is a very long time to be a nation of people within another nation. The Israelites had, over the many years in since Joseph’s death, become slaves in…
Of the four Gospel writers, Mark and John include no details of Jesus’ birth or early years. For that, we turn to Matthew and Luke. Each of those first-days’ events…
Self-giving Love Every grandiose scenario imagined for the arrival of Messiah was eclipsed by the Father. The poverty and obscurity, the no-name couple, Galileans of all disqualifying things, the lack…
Resilient Joy ‘Just a cradle in the shadow of a cross,’ sings one Gospel song. ‘A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,’ prophesies Isaiah. A king born to die.…
Courageous Peacemaking Establishing peace, for Jesus, the Prince of Peace, would always involve struggle and opposition and rejection. Through all this, he was undeterred because he knew that peace was…
Hopeful Waiting As we enter this season, we look around at our world and at ourselves and acknowledge that there is deep darkness, that much is not as it should…
The reaping of the Kingdom harvest will not be achieved without pushback from the kingdom of darkness. It will be completed but will rile up opposing forces willing to fight…
In the fullness of time: 1. God sent His Son (Gal. 4:4), 2. Jesus announced, ‘It is time for the Kingdom of God to be experienced in its fullness’ (Mk.1:15),…