There is something more devastating when the God of all creation hides His face from His creature.
Penetrating Our Darkness
The Advent season prepares our heart, mind, and soul for the darkness that occurs throughout our life. It reminds us to rely not on any extinction of existence but the Christ who penetrated our deepest darkness and conquered them in His death.
The Angelic Announcement is Ours
When Advent is celebrated correctly, the whole heart is meditating on the magnificent glory of God. "In spirit and in truth" (Jn. 4:24), we "bend before Him" and "His greatness celebrate" by His grace. After four weeks of anticipation, the Angelic announcement is once again ours.
More than Watchmen Waiting for the Morning
We wait. God prepares the city.
Idols During Advent
Advent is a time to set aside the pomp and circumstance of secular celebration. It is a time to clean house on our “speechless idols” and “silent stone[s].” Maybe that entails time away from social media or less spiked eggnog. It might mean taking less pride and confidence in our religious traditions. It is impossible to conceive of all the silent idols our hearts may create.
Fulfilling the Royal Law
However, I would like to point out a few problems with the idea that God requires sinless perfection.
In Defense of Mary, Did You Know
So don’t be dissuaded. Sing "Mary, Did You Know?" and reflect on the greatness of Jesus this Christmas. Sing it every Christmas until you pass on from this mortal life. Just don’t sing it after the Christmas tree comes down.
A Grief Remembered
The day my mother died was a rainy one.
Music Review: Go Farther in Lightness
We are not perfect and our brokenness can be read in our social structures and our relationships.
A Brief History
This year, Torrey Gazette saw the publication of Coffee in Christian Ethics and Stop the Presses.
get me to the church on time
There is a comfort in hearing them from someone outside of your own head, someone impartial to your own internal noise.
Still with Me in My Heart
Read in this light (not an immediate pun), the words of Rubarth become a soulful but softly whispered plea that the Christ with those "who have fallen asleep in Jesus" (1 Thess. 4:14) would return.
Original Sin was Infidelity
Faith is the primary condition worked out in elementary obedience.
Baptismal Hypocrisy
"I’m not welcomed at this Church!"
Written in the Water
I am now "just sinking in" to the grace of Christ conquering the current cyclical cacophony of death and life.
Calvin on Knowledge of God
"We should speculate soberly and with great moderation, cautiously guarding against allowing either our mind or our tongue to go a step beyond the confines of God’s word." - John Calvin
Music Review: Wildflowers in the Graveyard
With each listen, the songs get richer and more cavernous encouraging yet another cycle of listening.
Music Review: Visions of a Life
While the album relies on several indie rock conventions, there is enough diversity and emotional resonance to transcend its influences into a soundscape of its own making.
Conviction of Sin
It is to Him and His Son that we must continue to look to receive knowledge of our sinfulness and the subsequent forgiveness of those sins.
Theological Landmarks
Do not many of these Fathers point us to Scripture and Christ instead of their own words which merely evince Scripture?