First, a theological point – Second, an exercise in an applied theological reading of a Psalm. The Christian God is a God who acts (see book by the same title, ‘A God Who Acts: Recognizing the Hand of God in Suffering and Failure‘, by Harry Blamires).  God acts both creatively and redemptively.  All.  The.  Time.

I’ve got an iPhone and an Apple mini-mac.  Have you ever unwrapped a new, glistening, dripping-with-hotness Apple product? But I’ve been worried by what I’m hearing about them (see Caleb’s recent post).  I’ve heard that the casing for the new iPads already have a space ready for rear-facing cameras in the slightly-higher-retail-priced models to be put before our lusting eyes in the near, perfectly-timed future… Evil. But it’s not just Apple or other huge, handcuffed-by-dividend-production-goals [...]

In chapter 10 of his gospel (or not far into the Jerusalem journey narrative as he would have seen it – he didn’t divide his gospel into ‘chapter and verse’), Luke presents an exchange between an expert in the Law (of Moses – i.e. Torah) and Jesus.  The lawyer is first trying to ‘test’ Jesus, and uses a fairly standard question of the day to do so. Both Matthew and Mark also record this question [...]

God is a God who commands and orders justice, and justice is a form of order. God’s order is good. The Creator God of Scripture takes the earth from being ‘tohu’ and ‘vohu’ (wild & waste – formless & void) to being more and more ordered.  And places humans at the crest of the wave of creation – investing them (us!) with the duty of working with God to bring His good, loving, wise order [...]

One might try to make a case against things like ‘Lent’ based on Luke 5:33-35. In this passage, Jesus is questioned why his followers don’t fast and pray like the disciples of John and of the Pharisees.  Jesus responds with another question: Can you make the friends of the bridegroom (the ole KJV puts it better – “the children of the bridechamber” – referring to a festive place/time) fast while the bridegroom is with them? [...]

Rob Bell (with Don Golden). Has written another book. Just as trendy… as the first two…. With many one-line (and sometimes one word) paragraphs. And with end-notes… rather than footnotes.¹ Oh. Joy. But seriously, not only was this book (hereafter refered to in trendy acronym style as JWTSC) an easy read, I’d have to say it is Rob’s most ‘biblical’ book.  Now that doesn’t mean that his first two books were not biblical, and it [...]

I’m well aware that the current economic situation is one fraught with complexity and detail.  It’s not a simple problem with a simple solution. But I can’t help but feel nervous about these massive ‘economic stimulus’ packages.  The mixture of strong insistence by leaders and hesitant cautiousness by would-be supporters is uneasy to say the least. I truly understand the ‘right now’ urgency to keep things going and save jobs (at least for the moment).  [...]