Let me revive my series of lectionary reflections long enough to share what I wrote this morning for the daily devotions our church emails out to members. I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as … More The With-God Life: The Nature of Prayer
Last week I was chatting with my Bethel colleague Amy Poppinga. As we compared notes on how classes are going now that we’ve moved online, we both realized the wide variety of ways we’re using history to help students think about COVID-19. In fact, this pandemic has left both of us feeling even more confident … More Introducing Our Newest Podcast: “Pandemics and the Liberal Arts”
When I wasn’t continuing my series of lectionary devotions, this week I wrote about a small Christian movement that went 350+ years without taking Communion and recorded a podcast about race and sports. Elsewhere: • My supply of yeast is running low, but while I’ve got it, I’ll join others in coping with COVID quarantine … More That Was The Week That Was
How we read the Bible is always shaped by our context, but I can’t wait until the day when my mind stops seeing Scripture in terms of a pandemic. Just before I came to this morning’s lectionary selection from Psalm 31, for example, I saw a news report about the possibility that we’ll all start … More The With-God Life: Deliverance from Enemies
Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness; answer me in your righteousness. Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. (Psalm 143:1-2) In yesterday’s reading, a drought threatened all of Israel. Today, David’s soul thirsts for God “like a parched land” (v … More The With-God Life: “Do not hide your face from me”
In the midst of a drought, God sent the prophet Elijah to Zarephath, where he had “commanded a widow there to feed you” (1 Kings 17:9). Elijah finds her and directs the woman to bring him “the morsel of bread in your hand.” She replies: As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, … More The With-God Life: The Widow of Zarephath
This week I continued my “With-God Life” series of lectionary devotions (from John 9 to John 11, with psalms, apocalypses, and more in between) and recorded a podcast about teaching sports when COVID-19 has shut down sports. Over at The Anxious Bench, I recommended some virtual field trips for home-bound kids and considered the significance of … More That Was The Week That Was
“The unexamined life is not worth living,” Socrates famously said near the end of his life. So in the midst of a different kind of trial than the one that philosopher endured, I’ve tried to pause from time to time and observe myself. Sometimes I’m okay with what I see: it turns out that I … More The With-God Life: The Waiting Soul
And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. He held a little scroll open in his hand. Setting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, he … More The With-God Life: “It’s apocalyptic”
What does the spread of the coronavirus mean for sports? We started to talk through that big question on this week’s extended spring break episode of The 252. In our first segment, we briefly discussed the postponement of the Olympics, how the absence of sports changes our perception of the passage of time, and Paul … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Sports in the Age of COVID-19
The Pietist Schoolman 