Audio Version The Christian world celebrates this day, the Friday before Easter Sunday, as “Good Friday.” It is the day we remember the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, as recorded by the four gospel authors, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. If we had been among Jesus’ followers on that Friday (or Thursday, or Wednesday, depending on…
Category: Church
’twas the night before…
Twas the Night Before Everything changed forever. Imagine a world without Christma a world without Christ. Imagine a world without the Golden Rule. Imagine a world where no one ever turned the other cheek. Imagine a world where the last could never be first and the least could never be most. Imagine a world ruled…
The American Crisis, 21st Century style
If you are an American Christian or hold to traditional Judeo-Christian values, and you are paying attention, you must feel as if your faith, your future, your family, and your country are under all-out assault. I know I do. From the Supreme Court doing their bench-legislating best to redefine what the words “family,” “love,” and…
The Barflies and the Baptists | Bible lessons from Miranda Lambert
Sometimes, you like a song because it hits you where you live. It’s lyrics resonate with you, speak truth to your soul, taunt you with their malice, soothe you with their medicine, encourage you with their message. Other times, you find a beat inescapably enjoyable, whether the lyrics mean anything to you or not…or they…
Dear Preacher: Do you really speak for God?
Dear Preacher, I have a thing or two to say to you. In church Sunday, the preacher I was listening to was talking about how to listen to a sermon. He was teaching us how to listen to him and apply what he told us. I powerfully resisted the inclination to consider how self-serving such…
An Old Preacher’s Admonition: Please, Quit!
Years ago, when I was a young pastor in California, some well-meaning chowderhead gave me a book titled, Dear Preacher, Please Quit! (If you were that chowderhead, I apologize…for not telling you sooner.) The book’s author was no Rhodes’ scholar. Nor was he much of a theologian. Nor was he a writer. His name…
Worship is More than Good Packaging
A week or so ago, I received an email from the Editor-in-Chief of an Internet sports site to which I contribute. It was addressed to all of the Featured Columnists. He admonished us to think more about packaging and less about content when we put together our articles. He talked about using multimedia presentations, slide…
Fly Right — A Devotional
Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment…Even when a fool walks along the way, He lacks wisdom, and he shows everyone that he is a fool. Ecclesiastes 10:1a,3 Here’s another fly Solomon found in the ointment: the hypocrisy of a fool. The foolish person wants to seem self-sufficient, like he’s got it all figured out. He…
The Law of the Jungle and the Law of Christ
Galatians 6:2,5 (NKJV) Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ… For each one shall bear his own load. From Rudyard Kipling’s timeless classic, The Jungle Book, comes this morsel of wisdom: “Now this is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky; And the Wolf…