I feel sorry for those who never got to hear Peter Gomes work a congregation while a biblical text worked him. He was a teacher, raconteur and best-selling author. But his primary vocation was as a preacher.
One of the chief ramifications of the protests that overthrew Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was the way religious divisions were set aside in the process.
The doctrine of justification really occurs only in Romans and Galatians. But wherever you look in Paul's letters, you see him arguing and working for the unity of the church.
As we talked about the story, and as the excitement of the congregation grew more and more palpable, I imagined children playing in heaps of seeds, tossing them into the air.
While producing award-winning chocolate, Shawn Askinosie seeks to create a business in which everyone involved—from farmer to factory worker to buyer—thrives.
Working in the shop gave bone and muscle to my pastoral identity. But it also taught me to anesthetize anxiety with long hours, to work out of fear of failing.
The term theological education brings to mind formal study. But people's deepest
convictions about God and their deepest stirrings of faith are often
formed at an early age.
The Christian heritage of praying next to water is older than Christianity itself, being deeply influenced by our Jewish heritage. One of our stunning water-prayer treasures is Psalm 104.
King George was terrified to be in front of a microphone. That's nothing compared to going
head to head with the average North American congregation with nothing but three points and a poem.
The eulogies go on and on, the bereaved helping to anoint the saint.
But then the eulogizers go home, leaving the bereaved to mourn someone whose life contained shadows as well
as sunshine.
Americans have become accustomed to picking and choosing among religious traditions and practices. But some have taken religious pluralism in a deeper and more radical direction.
Our Bible study group was looking at the women at the tomb, and I joked, “We don’t need Jesus today, he’s not in this story.” I was unprepared for the wave of grief that washed over me.
Early Christian writers recognized music's emotional power. Just as often, however, they commended it for its powers of harmony--in both the musical and extramusical sense.