Archives For Lent

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

Isaiah 58:6-9

Welcome to Lent, friends.

The Kind of Fast I Have Chosen.

Posted by Chris on March 6, 2014 In Church, God, Mission , , , ,
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It’s Easter Sunday! N.T. Wright Breaks it Down.

Chris —  March 31, 2013

Easter means that new starts are possible.

In Church, Culture, Growth , , , ,
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Wednesday Spotlight

Wednesday Spotlight: Tom Wright’s “For Everyone”

Chris —  February 6, 2013

To pastors and seminarians he is N.T. Wright, the theologian a generation turns to for everything from resurrection apologetics to the New Perspective on Paul.  But behind that academic density is the heart of a shepherd.  This is best seen in his “For Everyone” set of New Testament commentaries.  Here, Wright eschews his academic initials for the nickname Tom.

TOM-ON-HEAVNE-AND-HELL Continue Reading…

In Church, Life, Mission , , ,
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Failing at Lent

Chris —  April 26, 2011

It’s Resurrection Season, so this will be my last post about Lent for about a year.  However, I would be remiss to not recount two things I learned from the season.

1.  We give things up for Lent because it leads us to Easter.  Rather than indulging in what me missed during our fast, we seek to find this small part of our life resurrected.  We give up what controls us through Lent so we can be free of it come Easter.

2.  I failed at Lent, in a deep fundamental way.  Posting on this site, Facebook and elsewhere what I had given up is a direct contradiction of Christ’s words on fasting.  This cheapened my fast and misled others.  My apologies.

In Church, Life , , ,
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Only the Darkest Will Do on Holy Saturday

Chris —  April 23, 2011

I know of nothing darker in scripture, and nothing better to ruminate on the day after our Lord’s death.  Please take a moment to read it all.

LORD, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.

I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.

You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, LORD, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

But I cry to you for help, LORD;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Why, LORD, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?

From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.

In Church, God, Life , , , , ,
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