The Christian Church does not reckon time according to the civil year.  It goes by its own system, called the church year, and its calendar differs in many respects from the civil one.  It is not determined by scientific exactness, but by spiritual experience.  In the civil year, days and seasons are determined by the revolution of the earth about the sun.  In the church year, however, the formative principle is the life and teaching of the Son of Righteousness. –Luther D. Reed, in Worship, p. 34. The Greeks had two words for time.  The first, “chronos” (from which we get our word “chronological”) refers to...

What kind of Christmas do you think it will be in the Philippines this year? In cities like Tacloban that were so devastated by typhoon Haiyan? It always amazes me just how strong is our initial gut reaction to places like Tacloban as our hearts go out to the folks affected by natural disaster, and we’re eager to help, and the news is dominated by stories of those affected…and then how quickly the news cycle fades and our attention shifts. Haiyan hit one month ago, and already we only hear bits and pieces of the story of the folks who are still – will be still for years to come – struggling to reclaim their lives and rebuild their...

Okay, so yesterday we talked about Advent and its invitation to slow down, to ponder the significance of what God has done (and is still doing!) through Jesus, and in this way to prepare our hearts to celebrate not just the birth of a beautiful child but the incarnation of God in Jesus as Emanuel, God with us. I’m guessing that most readers of this blog already know a fair amount about Advent, and that the post was more of a reminder and invitation than an introduction. But do you know about the Advent Conspiracy? Actually, I’m guessing that many of you do. But for those who don’t: The Advent Conspiracy is a world-wide movement to help...

Given that we’re one week away from this colossal cultural phenom, it seems like a good time to ask the question. Actually, my friend, colleague, and Sermon Brainwave buddy Rolf Jacobson has written a fantastic article in response to this question on Luther Seminary’s wonderful and free web resource, Enter the Bible. In that piece, Rolf responds, quite honestly, that we frankly don’t know whether Jesus would shop on Black Friday. Having said that, though, that doesn’t mean we can’t think theologically about our relationship to the day and, even more, to our habits and pattens of shopping and our relationship to money more...

Several years ago I wrote a short article for pastors on how to preach after a natural disaster – on that occasion it was the earthquake in Haiti – that came to mind after hearing the news of the devastation wrought in the Philippines by the typhoon that has just passed through there. It struck me that several elements of that piece might be more widely applicable, and so I’ve adapted it for this post. I think it’s important to stress that in the face of tragedy we are invited as Christians to be honest; this in at least two ways. First, the human tragedy and wreckage that natural disasters leave in their wake never fail to stun...