by Peter James | Mar 25, 2025 | 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, 2025 | 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, 2025 | 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, 2025 | 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...
by Peter James | Mar 21, 2025 | Favorite, Hildegard of Bingen
I first learned about Hildegard of Bingen (ca. 1098-1179) in a Washington Post article about beer. This twelfth-century abbes (leader) of a convent in Germany was the first person to document the use of hops in making beer. I have come to find out she was no ordinary...
