I love this story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4. We started it last week and we will finish it on Sunday. I love that God comes to Cain and gently grabs him by the arm, looks him in the eyes, and says, Be careful. The anger you are cradling will destroy you. Sin […]
Sunday Corporate Worship, Theology 4
Hey folks, a few quick thoughts this week… GAFCON II On Saturday, I will leave the fall retreat early and fly to Nairobi, Kenya. A few years ago, in response to the growing crisis within the Anglican Communion, a new fellowship was created of provinces, bishops, and dioceses who hold fast to a common belief […]
Gospel, Sunday Corporate Worship, Theology 1
We are now 2 weeks in to this 4 part story of how the universe works: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. We have seen that ‘before the beginning’ God was present and fully, relationally satisfied. He had no needs. He wasn’t sitting around saying I’m lonely or I’m bored so I guess I’ll create […]
This past Monday, on July 15th, adherents of Judaism marked Tisha B’Av, which is the day to remember the destruction of the two temples in Jerusalem in c. 586 B.C. and 70 A.D., respectively. One tradition on this day is to read and meditate on the book of Lamentations. This caught my attention, and I […]
A recent theme at Restoration has been the topic of sharing Christ with others. A few of our sermon texts in Luke have pointed us in this direction, not least Erin’s sermon on Sunday. We’ve been talking about it in APEX, our youth group. And several of us just returned from the Asia Minor trip, […]
Beauty, Culture, Theology, Thoughts 0
Erin Bair and I like to dialogue about cool stuff we are reading, and she sent me this quote by Alexander Schmemann: “If secularism in theological terms is a heresy, it is primarily a heresy about man. It is the negation of man as a worshiping being, as homo adorans: the one for whom worship is […]
Sunday Corporate Worship, Theology 0
Jesus said a really hard thing about unforgiveness in the parable we studied on Sunday… You wicked servant! I’ll admit: it is hard to hear and hard to say. Jesus only uses the descriptor 5 times in the Gospels (2 of them are from the same story!). So it is not a term He throws […]
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been talking a lot about the gifts of the Spirit. David helpfully defined a spiritual gift as a specific manifestation of the Holy Spirit that is given to an individual for the common good. As I’ve talked this over with people — in my small group, in staff meeting, […]
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 1Corinthians 12:7 What’s your spiritual gift? Everybody gets one. When they use it, God is revealed. They are showing off the power of God living inside them. We use our gifts not for our aggrandizement, but for the common good. God gives […]
If you want to read ahead for Sunday and then small group, take a look at these links. Reviewing a new biography of E. M. Forster Time to throw out virginity and tactical nukes Girls, hooking up, Taylor Swift, Glee, and true love porn, devastation, it’s as bad as you think And while you’re at […]
