Tag: Hope
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Christ Within
Somewhere inside of me. Something within you. The image of the invisible God, who is Christ, shapes something of who we really are. I say “something” and “somewhere” because I cannot quite put my finger on it, find adequate words for it, or identify the God-in-us reality of which Paul speaks. Christ in you, the…
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Love and Sadness
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Matthew 23:37 To love is to choose a certain type of suffering, or to say it differently, to…
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Our Shifting Anxieties
In The Courage to Be, Paul Tillich offers his overview of three ages of Western thought and the cultural shifts these eras produced. His purpose is to explore the nature of Christian faith in each time, and so he identifies the nature of the fundamental human fears during those periods. Antiquity, he claims, was characterized…
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Cross of Love
But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness. 1 Corinthians 1:23 Paul’s statement about the difficulties people have in accepting the message of a crucified Lord is a lament, not a call to action. If the cross is problematic to understand, may it be so for the right reasons…
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Misplaced Hope
David makes a timeless declaration about hope, faith, trust, and where we put our confidence. He could not be any clearer or relevant. We can either trust God or worldly power and might, but not both. The horse and chariot meant military power, but also speaks to technology. When the Israelites were coming into Canaan…
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Advent Revelation
The coming of Jesus, which we celebrate at Christmas, involves not only his birth so long ago but also our present expectation for Christ’s appearing again. But what are we looking for? What does this awaited coming look like for us now? I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew…