Tonight I attended my first “Tenebrae” service. Tenebrae is Latin for “into the shadows.” The service is intended to recreate the emotional aspects of Christ’s betrayal, abandonment, and the agony of his crucifixion. The heart of the service takes place toward the end. A number of candles have been lit to coincide with the same […]
“You hold my eyelids open;I am so troubled that I cannot speak.I consider the days of old,the years long ago.”—Psalm 77:4-5 In fall of 2015 I embarked on an eight month journey through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, which begins with an examination of sin. As I progressed through the weeks it felt as […]
The last couple of mornings have been in the 30s so I’ve been building a fire in the wood stove instead of cranking up the heater. There’s something very cheery about a cozy fire heating my home as dawn creeps through the windows, plus it keeps my PG&E bill down. Out of necessity, I’m getting […]
Last night in prayer, remembering the events of the last night of Jesus’ life, my mind rested on the scene at the Garden of Gethsemane. There, Jesus took three of his disciples and went off a ways from the rest of the group for a period of intimate prayer. He told his three companions, “Watch […]
Using the words of author Jerry Bridges, here’s the deal about using your imagination as you read Scripture. Bridges closed his last book (God Took Me by the Hand: A Story of God’s Unusual Providence, NavPress 2014; Jerry passed away earlier this month) with seven “spiritual lessons” he learned over the course of his life. […]
Last time I touched on using the imagination as you meditate on Scripture, using the story of 12-year-old Jesus talking with the religious leaders in Luke 2 as an example. I said that part of the problem when reading this and other passages is that you know the story so well that you skim over […]
I wonder sometimes about Paul’s declaration in Philippians 3:10 that he wanted to have fellowship with Christ’s sufferings (“that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death”) and what that means. Since we American Christians did not grow up in a climate […]
Recently I had a conversation with a friend over an article she found online that described some beliefs C.S. Lewis held that are contrary to standard evangelical beliefs. (The article mentioned that as an Anglican, Lewis believed in purgatory and praying for the dead, among other things. However I should point out that Anglican doctrine […]
It’s very important when talking about God’s provision to have the right perspective. That is why I ended last week’s blog post by saying that according to both Old and New Testament “rules,” we as a race of people deserve nothing from God’s hand. So biblically speaking, that is our starting point. Where does the […]
I know a lot of people who are struggling financially right now. They say the recession is lifting but it hasn’t lifted for my friends, or truth be told, for me. Or maybe I should say for the entities I write for. As a freelance writer I depend on businesses, newspapers and magazines with money […]