Week 1: The Patriarchs
Note: Over the next four weeks, we will consider four essential features to the story of the birth of God’s Son: the patriarchs, Bethlehem, the shepherds, and angels. This week we focus on the...
View ArticleWeek 2: Bethlehem
Note: Over a four-week period leading up to Christmas, our Communion meditations are considering four essential features to the story of the birth of God’s Son. This week we highlight the town of...
View ArticleWeek 3: The Shepherds
By Stuart Powell Note: This is week three of a four-week series of Communion meditations in which we consider essential features to the story of the birth of God’s Son. This week we focus on the...
View ArticleWeek 4: The Angels
By Stuart Powell Note: This is the final installment of a four-week series of Communion meditations in which we consider essential features to the story of the birth of God’s Son. This week we focus...
View ArticleGod’s Ways
By Stuart Powell Have you ever thought you were the last to hear about something important? Why is that? Do you lack influence or political connections? Is your opinion not valued because of your...
View ArticleNew Year—New Jerusalem?
By Michael C. Mack Here’s some good news: 2020 is over! We can all breathe a sigh of relief . . . maybe. We can look at 2020’s problems in the rearview mirror . . . maybe. This year, 2021, will be...
View ArticleVaccine
By Stuart Powell In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, humanity began a quest for a one-word treasure: vaccine. The entire world sought an antidote that would trigger each human body to build a...
View ArticleThe Death of Evil
By Stuart Powell On May 17, 1956, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. joined other civil rights leaders at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. That day, he delivered a sermon entitled “The...
View ArticleThe Power of Blood
By Randy Ballinger During the pandemic, blood donation centers have sought out individuals who have recovered from COVID-19. Apparently, the antibody-rich blood plasma these individuals donate...
View ArticleThe Third Day
By Stuart Powell There are two days that define every person’s life. The first is the day of conception, when a new life is sparked and another image bearer begins their journey to meet God. That day...
View ArticleImmortality
By Randy Ballinger Striving for immortality sometimes results in strange ideas. As an example, “transhumanism” is a philosophical movement that advocates using technology to modify and enhance...
View ArticleBeing a Christian
What does it mean to be a Christian? How are we different from nonbelievers? What distinguishes the people who follow Jesus from those who ignore or neglect him? We might think the difference is most...
View ArticleAttitude
By Scott Franks In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with Godsomething to be used to his own...
View ArticleSinners Saved by Grace
By Stuart Powell As a child, did you ever try to hide from your parents after a disobedient act? Did you seek sanctuary somewhere in your house? Was it even a good hiding place? Such a foolish...
View ArticleAroma of Christ
By Scott Franks We are about to share a symbolic meal together to commemorate the death of God’s Son. But this isn’t a funeral meal, it’s a celebration. It seems strange to view the death of Jesus on...
View ArticleAbel’s Blood
By Scott Franks In Hebrews 11, Abel was listed as one of the giants of faith because of what he gave to God. In the very next chapter, the writer again mentioned Abel, when he said that Jesus’...
View ArticleWatched, Scoffed, and Mocked
And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up...
View ArticleSeeds to Be Planted
By Scott Franks On his last night with his disciples before he was arrested and crucified, Jesus sat down to a meal with them. He took a loaf of bread and broke it into pieces and passed it around....
View ArticleJesus, As He Really Is
By Randy Ballinger “But [Thomas] said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it’” (John 20:25)....
View ArticleWhere Is Our Hope?
By Stuart Powell In Ezekiel 37, God showed his prophet in exile a vision of a valley filled with human bones. It was a gruesome picture descriptive of how the exiled Jews viewed themselves. The...
View Article