"Chronological snobbery" was a term coined by Owen Barfield in the 1920s and made popular in the writings of C.S. Lewis in the 1950s. The phrase communicates our modern prediction to regard the past as intrinsically inferior to the present. New is...
It’s hard to say goodbye. You may recall the immortal words Juliet spoke to Romeo, “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” Or consider the endearing line from Winnie the Pooh, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” Jeremiah...
News outlets are all over the story that belief in God is on the wane in America. There is no shortage of testimonials on social media of people who have walked away from God and given up on faith. Surely, unanswered prayer has something to do with...
She was, of her own admission, a shy and awkward child. She lived in a house along Main Street in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, which Norman Rockwell painted into "Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas." She said of herself, "I wasn't one of those...
It must rank as one of the most imaginative cover letters ever written. Robert Pirosh quit his job as a copy editor in New York to look for work as a Hollywood screenwriter in 1934. He sent the following letter to studio executives and producers,...
What is the second best-selling Christian book of all time? The all-time best seller is a no-brainer—the Bible. The runner-up best-seller is likely one you don’t know and haven’t read. It’s Thomas a Kempis’ (1380-1471) devotional classic, The...
They were both passionate and strong-willed. John Wesley had heard about the gifted young preacher Edward Perronet (1726-1797), and was eager to hear him. Since Wesley was eighteen years his senior and the elder statesman in the Methodist movement,...
Most of my sermons follow a predictable pattern. I begin by attempting to draw people into the message, aware that most congregants decide in the first minute or so whether they will give full attention to the sermon. The middle portion of my...
The day between Good Friday and Easter, Holy Saturday, is one of the most confusing days in the Christian calendar, situated halfway between the agony of Good Friday and the joy of Easter. Nothing much happens on that first Holy Saturday. Jesus'...
It seems counterintuitive to call the day on which Jesus died "Good Friday." The phrase likely originated in the Middle Ages. Jesus' death on the cross is good in what it accomplishes--death to our sins and the harbinger of our resurrection to...
It was a most unlikely marriage. The former monk Martin Luther had to find husbands for nineteen nuns who fled convent life to join the Reformation movement. One ex-nun, Katie von Bora, insisted she would only marry Martin Luther and prevailed upon...
The first few days of Holy Week were full of drama: Jesus' triumphal ride into Jerusalem on Sunday, his cleansing of the temple on Monday, and the ensuing temple controversy on Tuesday. Wednesday seems like an off day. The only thing that takes...
We use the word “brilliant” much too often. “He pitched a brilliant game.” “She gave a brilliant performance.” Enough already! Yet Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) was, by all accounts, a perfectly brilliant theologian. He was widely regarded as...
Why do we sing in worship? Singing is not mere filler, as warm-up to the sermon. Hymn singing has served a valuable teaching role in church history. Songs helped worshipers internalize the theology preached in the sermon. Many of our cherished...
I've always had mixed emotions about leading worship on Palm Sunday. The day was festive enough as choirs processed into worship, followed by adorable children waving palm branches as everyone sang, "Ride on! Ride on in Majesty!" The very next line...
The BBC in 1957 aired a television special about a family in Switzerland harvesting a bumper crop of spaghetti from a spaghetti tree. Since pasta was relatively unknown in the United Kingdom at the time, unsuspecting viewers were oblivious that...
It was his first Sunday at Old Pine Street Church in Philadelphia. The congregation voted by a strong majority to call George Duffield (1732-1790) to be its pastor in 1771. A large crowd gathered to hear his inaugural sermon, but the old guard...
I'm searching for the right word to introduce Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924). Eccentric? Unconventional? Quirky? He reportedly taught with a pet bat on his shoulders. You get the picture! A recent biographer wondered how he had the capacity for...