A Radical Commission

I’ve been thinking a bit about the Great Commission recently – Jesus’ words to His disciples in Matthew 28:16-20. It’s a beautiful set of words and familiar to long-time church-goers, though we can miss some of its significance if we’re not careful, or if we read it with “too-familiar” eyes. “Go therefore and make disciples …

Laying Down our Offenses

I was thinking about a quote from Jackie Pullinger recently. She was being interviewed for the Alpha course some number of years back, and she made a comment that I’ve long-since misremembered. The original quote is that “God wants us to have soft hearts and hard feet.” And this is a good quote. A thought-provoking …

Reversing the Spiral

Shortly before Jesus’ ascension, we read his powerful words to the disciples: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you shall be My witnesses in both Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) This immediately conjures up images of …

A Brief Cultural Survey

What’s the point in studying the Scriptures? Surely we can learn everything we need to know by simply reading our modern English translations of the text, right? Sure – as long as you are a first-century Palestinian Jew. But if not, we’ve got a ways to go before we can hope to understand even a …

New/Renew

“Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:5) Happy New Year!  I love this time of year.  It’s the one holiday that people all around the world seem to celebrate, regardless of culture, background or religion.  Many take the opportunity to reflect on the previous year (or “put the last nail in the coffin” …