John Milton (1608-1674) was nearing the end of his eventful life. He felt as if he had one last poem in him. He rose each morning at 5:00 am, meditated with his Hebrew Bible for an hour and offered the day in prayer. (John had learned ancient...
Presbyterians were selecting hymns for their new hymnal. They asked the originators of the new hymn, "In Christ Alone," to change the lyrics from "the wrath of God was satisfied" to "the love of God was magnified." The two authors refused the...
Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751) was a simple man. He was driven by one compelling ambition: to love God and surrender to him completely. If we abandon ourselves to God, there is only one rule for us to follow: the duty of the present moment....
Richard Baxter (1615-1691) was a confirmed middle-aged bachelor and rector of a rural Church of England parish. (He was also numbered among the Puritans but don't get me started on how often we unfairly malign these early American settlers!)...
William Carey (1761-1834) failed at the job of cobbler. He was good at making shoes yet lousy at making money. Next, he turned to preaching. William lived during a time when people were indifferent, even hostile to world missions. He said to a...
Do you talk to yourself? I mean, out loud. People say that crazy folks talk to themselves. So do normal, well-adjusted people. Psychologists claim there are positive benefits to self-talk. David Martin Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) wrote a book on...
Chuck Templeton and Billy Graham (1918-2018) were close friends and well-known evangelists in the 1940's. Chuck began to have doubts about the veracity of Scripture. When they met in 1949, Chuck challenged his friend, "Billy, you're fifty years out...
Why don't we tell the stories that accompany the hymns we sing? Virtually every song has a story to accompany it. So many hymns emerge out of pain and intense struggle. Once you know the story behind the hymn "Precious Lord, Take My Hand," you'll...
Macarius (300-391) lived in the desert with other like-minded hermits. Hence the name attributed to them: desert fathers. As a young monk, Macarius was falsely accused of assaulting a young woman. He was exonerated when the assailant confessed the...
Fulgentius of Ruspe (462-533) was a name unfamiliar to me until recently. If you really want to know, his full name is Fabius Claudius Gordianos Fulgentius. I'm sticking with Fulgentius! He was born into a prominent, wealthy family in North...
Batman and Robin go together. In comic book lore, they are the epitome of a dynamic duo. Batman clearly takes the lead while Robin plays his support role well. Together, they foil the Joker's diabolical schemes. Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon...
There are head people and heart people. Head people think deeply and analyze thoroughly. Heart people feel intensely and empathize easily. Some think with the heads; others lead with their hearts. It is rare to find people who can put head and...
I struggled early in preaching to convey abstract theological concepts in common, everyday speech. I often turned to the book, Wishful Thinking, to help in this endeavor. Its author, Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) wrote novels and short stories...
Hitler's takeover of the German Evangelical Church was resisted by a small number of dissenting pastors like Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945). Dietrich challenged his pastoral colleagues to stand for Christ and not succumb to Hitler's fear tactics....
Prayer takes many forms. So called "Flash Prayers" are brief, sentence prayers that can be offered to God throughout the day. "Lord, help this person," "God, open their eyes" and "Thank you, Lord" are but a few examples. Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)...
I'm more interested in the prayer attributed to Francis Drake (1540-1596) than with Francis himself. While he is a colorful figure of history, he represents a mixed bag in matters of faith. His letters bear witness to genuine belief, yet his...
At a slave auction block at Boston harbor on July 11, 1761, "A small, frail, female child was sold...for a trifle." Her only covering was a scrap of carpet, and her owner was in a hurry to sell her, convinced she wouldn't survive. Suzanna...
I preached a sermon series a few years ago on The Song of Songs (alternatively Song of Solomon). It's an intriguing Old Testament book, given that it reads like a love sonnet between a prospective bride and groom. God's name is conspicuously absent...