Month: November 2007
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America and the Church – More Thoughts
Getreligion.org recently drew attention to a New York Times article on modern evangelicalism and the role that various forms of music are playing in their current configuration. The article contained this striking quote and observation from an interview with Tom Mercer, senior pastor of the evangelical church featured in the article: “When you start a…
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Thanksgiving Evening – 2007 – America and Christianity
My Thanksgiving over the past few years has mostly served as one of the few occasions for the gathering of extended family. Somethings are measured in these meetings – the passing of time – I am older; my parents are older – and now the children are increasingly the adults. I am beginning to assume…
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Happy Thanksgiving (American Holiday)
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1 Thess. 5:18).
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A Little Child Enters the Temple
The story in the gospel of Christ’s visits to the Temple in his childhood – the first at 40 days of age (marked by the Feast of the Presentation and the occasion of prophecy by the Elder Simeon and Hannah the Prophetess) and at age 12 when He is lost and later found giving instruction…
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What Faith Shall I Defend?
Contemporary challenges to the Christian faith, whether from children’s writers such as Pullman or various scientific voices in the world of mass media, are frequently not challenges to the Christian faith but attacks on the misperceptions of the Christian faith. By the same token, many professions of the Christian faith are not professions of the…
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Where Do the Children Play?
I recall an old Cat Stevens song from the early 70’s, Where Do the Children Play? It runs through my head from time to time when I think about the adult world interacting with children. I had the phrase somewhat in mind when I reacted to the recent invasion of Harry Potter’s world by JK…
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Another Milestone – with Thanks
Sometime tomorrow (here in Tennessee) or this evening (if something unusual happens) Glory to God for All Things will reach another milestone in its young life. We will cross 400,000 “views” since the blog’s debut in October last year. Readership has continued to grow (slowly but steadily) which is encouraging. In general, I think we’ve…
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A Faith Worth Believing
In the past month of more I have been working from time to time on posts about a “One-Storey Universe” versus a “Two-Storey Universe.” The comments and the readership have said to me that I am writing about a topic that touches many. Perhaps the most poignant responses I have had have been those who…
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St. Ignatius Brianchaninov on Prayer and the Fire of the Spirit
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov was an early 19th century Russian Bishop and saint. His teachings on prayer, drawn from the fathers are among the best modern commentaries. His work, The Arena, is a must-read on the subject of spiritual delusion. The following excerpt is from his book, On the Prayer of Jesus, in which he draws…
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The Mystery of the Human Heart
St. Macarius is famously quoted: The heart itself is but a small vessel, yet dragons are there, and there are also lions; there are poisonous beasts and all the treasures of evil. But there too is God, the angels, the life and the kingdom, the light and the apostles, the heavenly cities and the treasuries…
@Dana Ames, thank you so much for that link. (I also turned the music off.) While watching, I was overwhelmed…