Best Books

Best Books  We are living in ungodly days. By every assessment, our nation has experienced significant spiritual decline, exemplified by a fall in church attendance, unacceptable behavior, and moral decay. I suppose ungodliness has always been with us – but our celebration of ungodliness is new indeed. We are now a post-Christian nation, and those …

Best Books  When I was a child, the neighborhoods around me were either white or black. I remember only one Asian student, and she spoke with an Alabama accent, so I’m not sure that counts. The only Spanish I heard was in Spanish class, and most of that was unintelligible. The demographic composition began to …

Best Books Sophie Hudson may not think of herself as a preacher, but I’m pretty sure God thinks of her as one. I’ve never met her, never heard her speak, and have no idea if she believes women should stand behind the pulpit. But a preacher she is. I know this because I recently read …

Best Books My church recently observed Pentecost Sunday, a day which celebrates the death of aristocratic spirituality. The Spirit was unleashed upon all flesh, baptizing all ages, classes, ethnicities and genders. In the new order, unlearned fishermen and poor servant girls may speak the words of God. Old men dream of God’s kingdom, young men …

It’s Time to Man Up On February 23, AD 155, the elderly bishop of Smyrna was taken to the city’s arena to be executed. Charged with the crime of being a Christian, he was allowed one more chance to renounce Christ. When he declined to deny his faith, the crowd shouted for his death. Polycarp …

Risk More. Dream Bigger. Fear Less. In his letter to the Christians of Rome, the Apostle Paul prayed that the God of hope would fill them with joy and peace, and that they would abound in hope. To abound in hope means to have more than enough, to have overflowing, over the top, audacious, beyond …

Hear the Word behind the words… Christianity isn’t a science. There are no secret formulas for spiritual success, no laws which drive predictable patterns of spiritual formation, no axioms upon which spiritual maturity can be assured. Even the Scriptures defy our impulses to turn it into a textbook. Our faith is perplexing and mysterious, much …

Are We Ready? Preparing for Easter, C. S. Lewis I’m pretty sure that if I’d met John the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan River, I would have dismissed him as a deranged zealot. Sensing my lack of enthusiasm for his style and lack of decorum, he would, no doubt, have pointed one of …

You Carried Me Last year, on a sunny day in May, Melissa Ohden left her church thinking of a scripture she had heard at Mass that morning. Based on Romans 5:5, Paul asserts that “hope does not disappoint.”  In a world jaded by cynicism, strife, and despair, Paul’s words may seem like wishful thinking. The …