According to a nineteenth century biographer, Paul Gerhardt (1606-1676) was "trained in the school of affliction." He studied for the ministry during a calamitous period of the Thirty Years War. He was called to serve a church in Berlin, only to be...
America was riding high in the saddle in the early twentieth century. We were flexing our economic and political muscles on the international stage. New inventions and technologies were taking hold. Our progress seemed inevitable.Georgia Harkness...
He may be the first conscientious objector in recorded history. Martin of Tours (316-397) aspired to begin the catechumen (apprentice) process to join a Christian church at the tender age of ten, contrary to his parent's wishes. As a decorated...
It was a watershed day in the life of Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680). He was twenty years old, a student at Cambridge in England. In the words of one biographer, Thomas had been dividing his time between "making merry and becoming a celebrity...
Pudens was a soldier, an assistant in charge of the Carthage prison. He was on duty when six prisoners from a small town were brought to the jail awaiting trial. The charge against them was a refusal to offer sacrifice to the emperor. They were...
COVID punctured a hole in our veneer of invincibility. Who could have ever conceived of a worldwide pandemic in the twenty first century? Plagues were only something we read about in history books. Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) was a stalwart of the...
John Wesley asked a gathering of English Methodists, "Our brethren in America call aloud for help. Who will go?" Francis Asbury (1745-1816), a twenty-six-year-old itinerant preacher, was one who answered the call. He said goodbye to his parents and...
Imagine a church sanctuary without a pulpit, communion table, choir loft or organ. The worship space is simple and functional in design. Wooden benches face each other, the back pews slightly elevated to improve sight lines. Douglas Steere...
I grew up in a Protestant church with an empty cross in its sanctuary. It was polished and clean, made of burnished brass. Whenever I entered a Catholic church, I couldn't quite get over the visual of Jesus hanging on a cross. Catholics contend a...
Elizabeth Prentiss (1818-1878) suffered from chronic insomnia and debilitating migraines. She once wrote to a friend that she "scarcely knew a moment free from pain." She lived with her husband George in New Bedford, Massachusetts where he served...
The Rule of Saint Benedict leaves no stone unturned. It provides guidelines for monastic living on most everything--sleeping, working, traveling and entertaining guests. He even devotes two chapters to addressing day-to-day concerns about drinking...
The Neanderthal man and Joachim Neander (1650-1680) share something in common. Joachim was a 20-year-old theology student, yet his heart wasn't in it. A contemporary said of him, "His student life was spent in vanity of the mind, forgetfulness of...
The College of Rhode Island wanted to give him an honorary doctorate, but he declined the offer. Who does that today? He refused numerous opportunities to serve more prestigious churches, preferring to labor at his modest assignment thirty-five...
Time flies. I mean, it's December 31st already! Wasn't it only yesterday that we were writing 2024 for the first time? In the words of the great philosopher Dr. Seuss, "How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is...
In New York City, instructions accompany buttons at busy intersections that pedestrians can press to direct traffic lights to change. There is only one problem: they don’t work! The city deactivated them in the 1980s when they installed high-tech...
Martin Luther stood before a tribunal demanding his retraction from writing and speaking against the established church. Martin defended his actions with the memorable words, "My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot, and I will not...
Sadness is a common human mood. Extended sadness without any apparent cause is what our forebears called “melancholy.” Robert Burton (1577-1645) devoted the better part of his life to his one and only book, The Anatomy of Melancholy. He...
Catholics and Protestants fought to the death over how Christ is present in the Eucharist. I wonder what they would think of our modern, efficient practice of offering a communion wafer and grape juice in a safe, hygienic package, but perhaps I...