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The incarnation: a stumbling block

The following piece appeared in the 8 December 2008 issue of Christian Courier, as part of my monthly column, Principalities & Powers:In the liturgies of some churches, the congregation stands at the reading of the gospel lesson. There may even be a gospel procession in which the celebrant walks . . . . Continue Reading »

Eat Well This Christmas

When pondering the nativity, I’ve heard much made of the fact that the manger is a place of great humility for the King of Kings to be found, and rightly so. I’ve seldom given much thought, however, to what the manger was —- a feeding place for animals.There’s little evidence . . . . Continue Reading »

6-Part Harmony

It’s a Christmas tradition in many homes to read the Christmas story before the festivities begin, which is of course a good thing. Most of us open up Luke 2, read down to through the Shepherds, pray a brief prayer, and then we begin with the wrapping paper and the mixture of joy and . . . . Continue Reading »

The Gospel and the Whole Christ

With some of the discussion regarding the gospel, I wanted to point out a recent post by Mark Jones titled “The Gospel and Sanctification.” Mark did his doctoral work on the Puritan Thomas Goodwin, so some of the essay references Goodwin’s work regarding the nature of the gospel. . . . . Continue Reading »

On Christmas: The Word made flesh

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” John 1:1,2. Following Edith Stein in her discussion of Essential and Eternal Being we see that all “meaningful” existents are enclosed by the “divine . . . . Continue Reading »

A Joyful Christmas to All

So I was at a local Christmas party last night. There I met a most admirable young man with six beautiful and happy children and a seventh on the way. He makes his leaving as a boutique metal worker (cupolas and such), and he’s obviously a fine craftsman and an able entrepreneur. Not only . . . . Continue Reading »

Haunted by Terri Schiavo

I will not let it go.  I have a piece on The Church Report about how the Rom Houben “awakening” brought Terri Schiavo powerfully back to minds and hearts.  I won’t belabor most of the points again here, since we have talked about it a lot.  But I will leave you with . . . . Continue Reading »

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