Posts from February 2015

How small would you have to be?

“Get into the Word?” he asked questioningly, “How small would you have to be?!?” That is one of the many incredulous responses that I remember getting back from some seemingly harmless “Christianese”. When I say, “Let’s get into the Word,” you, dear reader, probably understand that I’m trying to say “Let us read and meditate…

The Gift of God: Provision for the Sacrifice

Picture the scene. Abraham and Isaac have walked up the mountain. Abraham, his eyes overflowing with tears, has bound up his son on the altar. He raises the knife, hands shaking, and begins to lower it. Then, suddenly, “Abraham, Abraham!” a voice cries from heaven. The voice tells Abraham, “Now I know that you fear…

Lent

Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, which means that we’re in the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is perhaps one of the oldest liturgical seasons that we have in the Church (with the exception of the celebrations of Epiphany). Lent began as a time of contemplation for a group called the “catechumenate”. These “catechumens”…

GIFTED: Our God Comes

“Our purpose is to return to the Father.” This is the sentiment of one of my Mormon friends. To her, this is the ultimate prize that she is always striving towards. She desires nothing more than to return to the Father, and she puts forth every effort to achieve this. Is there anything wrong with…

Giving Ourselves as Gifts: We Make God Known

It’s easy to pretend to be someone you’re not. For example, in the first season of the television show “Castle,” the main character becomes a consultant for the police. He’s not really a consultant, but he justifies this move by saying that he’s helping the police protect people from harm. In reality, he’s a novelist…

The Gift of God: He Makes Himself Known

I remember the first time my old campus minister told me something personal about her life. She was describing a significant event while treating me as an equal instead of a student. I felt like I had been elevated to a higher status, that I was her friend instead of someone she was ministering to…

GIFTED: Identity with Purpose

We have a new identity in Christ. We are powerful, strong, supported by God, living our lives based on him. We are like our Savior in so many ways. So the question is, what now? It would be easy for us to take our new identity and keep it to ourselves. It would be easy…