by Peter James | Mar 26, 2023 | Favorite, St. Augustine
Augustine (354-430) was restless. He identified his restlessness at the outset of his autobiography, the Confessions, “Thou hast made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee.” As Augustine looked back over his life in 397 at...
by Peter James | Mar 25, 2023 | William Cowper
The church I served used to sing from an old songbook the hymn, “Sometimes a Light Surprises.” While the hymn has fallen out of favor in our day, its words have never left me. Consider the way the song begins: Sometimes a light surprises, a Christian...
by Peter James | Mar 24, 2023 | Henri Nouwen
Adam Arnett never spoke a word in his life. He couldn’t dress himself, walk on his own and was susceptible to daily seizures. Yet he had a profound influence on Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), one of the most respected Catholic teachers and writers of the twentieth...
by Peter James | Mar 23, 2023 | Ambrose of Milan
The church was locked in a conflict with the Arians (who insisted God the Father created Jesus the Son, thereby making Jesus a lesser being) over who would be elected the next bishop of Milan. Ambrose (ca. 339-397), who was Milan’s governor at the time, was on...
by Peter James | Mar 22, 2023 | William Laud
I have preached under trying circumstances, but nothing compared to William Laud’s (1573-1645) concluding sermon. It was preached at the scaffold on a cold day in January 1645 moments before his scheduled execution. William was an Anglican priest who became...
