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Mystery
By Neal Windham When asked what’s missing when churches marginalize the Lord’s Supper by breaking bread casually and infrequently, Eugene Peterson replied, “Mystery.” He wasn’t talking about cheap...
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A Clean Break (1 Corinthians 11:20-23)
By Neal Windham Corinth is a beautiful city. Set on an isthmus dividing the Adriatic and Aegean seas, it was frequented by mariners avoiding the more treacherous waters of the Mediterranean in Paul’s...
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Passover Parallels (Matthew 26:17-19)
By Neal Windham Jesus’ last supper was almost surely some sort of Passover meal. It was eaten at night while in Jerusalem, as custom would have it. Our Lord likely explained the meal’s key features,...
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To Comfort All Who Mourn (Isaiah 61:1-3)
By Neal Windham The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the...
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Cruciform Ministry (Romans 5:8)
By Neal Windham Garrison Keiller tells the story of how Clarence Bunson (at least, I think it was Clarence), a mainstay in Keillor’s fictional town of Lake Wobegon, lay cruciform, frozen to the roof of...
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A Good Thrashing
By Daniel Schantz “The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Sixteenth-century England was the era of the “divine right of kings,” when kings...
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Lower Is Better
By Mandy Smith Mountaineer Joe Simpson tells his chilling story in the book and movie Touching the Void. Thousands of feet up the side of the 20,814-foot Siula Grande mountain, Joe’s safety line was...
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Communion, Our Constant
By Mandy Smith The old Sunday school song goes, “Since Jesus came within and cleansed my soul from sin, I’m inright, outright, upright, downright happy all the time.” But very few Christians could...
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Ordinary Sacredness
By Mandy Smith We know Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper during the Passover feast, which Jews have celebrated for generations. Passover is an annual festival remembering God’s salvation of his people...
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Three Ways to Sing a Common Song
By Mandy Smith For many Christians, singing hymns in a group is still a meaningful experience. An a cappella version of “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” can induce goose bumps, especially when...
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A Good Meal
By Daniel Schantz “For this reason many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (1 Corinthians 11:30). Church services are well underway in a smalltown church of a hundred souls, when a little...
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Feeling Close
By Daniel Schantz “The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David . . .” (1 Samuel 18:1). The word communion means “to share” or “to have something in common.” Although it is more than just a...
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Country Communion
By Daniel Schantz “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you” (John 14:27, New King James Version). You arrive late at the little country church that is surrounded by lime green sycamore trees....
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City Communion
By Daniel Schantz “I . . . am like a sparrow alone on a housetop” (Psalm 102:7). The city can be a lonely place, and on this Sunday morning you are utterly solo. Your husband is on the road, and the...
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The Power of One
By Tom Ellsworth One really can make a difference. It was a sweltering election afternoon in 1842 when Hoosier farmer Henry Shoemaker finally realized he hadn’t voted yet. Shoemaker had personally...
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The One Who Found Them
By Tom Ellsworth On July 30, 1945, just after midnight, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed while en route from Guam to the Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. The resulting explosions so...
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Two Kings
By Tom Ellsworth Malchus was not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill slave; he was the trusted servant of the influential high priest. As the armed band of soldiers approached Gethsemane, Malchus...
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A Glimpse of Tomorrow
By Tom Ellsworth At the time many condescendingly referred to it as “Seward’s Folly”—because U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward brokered the deal and was its biggest promoter—but the purchase of...
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‘Woe to Me!’
By Greg Swinney A nervous group of university students stood outside the barbed wire fence and steel gates of the state prison on a windy fall afternoon. The group of about 20 students joined hands to...
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Joyful Discovery
By Greg Swinney Columbus Day was recognized as a federal holiday in 1937 to celebrate Christopher Columbus’s heroic voyage of adventure and discovery. Many people working in banks, public offices, and...
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