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Repent…
I think for many Americans, the word repent conjures up images of a wild-eyed, disheveled man yelling and threatening damnation and hellfire. Of course, we don’t have any audio or video from the first century, and John the Baptist certainly comes close to the stereotypical street preacher, but I doubt that the exhortations of John…
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Patience and Power
Love begins with patience. Fundamental to every act of love is respect for the agency of the one loved. This is the main reason why God does not intervene in ways we think he should to prevent war, pestilence, famine, and other causes of large-scale suffering. His intervention takes the form of individual acts of…
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Why God Gives Us Power
The first chapter of Colossians includes Paul’s prayer for his readers. In it he prays that God will grant them wisdom and knowledge and enable them to bear good fruit and do good works. Then he adds, “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that….” I stopped there. What was it…
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Faith and Certainty
Ἔστιν δὲ πίστις ἐλπιζομένων ὑπόστασις, πραγμάτων ἔλεγχος οὐ βλεπομένων. Hebrews 11:1 (Original Greek) The New Testament makes very clear how damaging doubt can be to faith. For example, Jesus tells his disciples that they can move mountains with the smallest amount of faith, provided their faith admits of no doubt. What is less clear, however,…
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Bend at the Knees
Originally written in 2008, this piece by Belinda Burkitt still resonates in a time of pandemics and renewed protests over racial violence. Chip Burkitt, editor. “Bend at the knees!” Something I can remember calling out to my young children as we ventured across an icy patch on a winter walk in Minnesota. My husband and…
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