What are the advantages of preaching consecutively, chapter after chapter, all the way through a book of the Bible? There are five reasons…
The essence of Christmas is the mysterious, glorious and profound claim that God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. To this astounding truth one might be compelled to ask: did it have to be this way? Was there any other way for God to redeem us? The second chapter of Hebrews gives us three reasons why God had to become a man:
Next Saturday (April 19, not tomorrow) is Record Store Day. This annual celebration of independent record stores has been taking place since 2007, and gives special attention to the vinyl record, which happens to be the main reason independent records stores are still in business. As music consumption moves away from CDs and increasingly toward MP3 downloads or direct streaming, there has been a movement back toward buying records the old fashioned way. Vinyl sales have been on the increase for the last few years, and show no signs of slowing down.
Reviewing a new U2 album is a difficult task. The reason is because U2 is almost like a brother or child to me. I don’t have a son, but I can imagine what it must be like to evaluate your own son’s performance at some task: he’s your son, so you want to think the best of him, and you want him to excel, but since he’s your son, you also expect a little more out of him. Maybe sometimes it’s hard to be entirely pleased?
Woody Allen once commented that he was not afraid of death – it’s just that he doesn’t want to be there when it happens. It’s a witty remark that captures the way many of us deal with death: we laugh at it. We make jokes. Because, let’s face it: there is nothing more certain in this life than the fact that it will all end in death. The obituary section of the local newspaper will one day include your name, with your place of birth, calling hours and an address where the grieving can send flowers.
