Note to the Reader This post is longer than usual, but its length testifies to its importance. Jesus was born during a time of high political and racial tension. For starters, first-century Palestinian Jews were divided among themselves concerning how to respond to the reality of Hellenism. There we some Read more…
Just a few weeks ago, my wife said to me, “Every time someone watches a Christmas movie before Thanksgiving, an elf kills a reindeer.” She feels pretty strongly about when the Christmas season does and does not begin. As for me, I’m ready to put up the tree and start Read more…
Luke 2:1–21 (ESV) 2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from Read more…
Even while living in Haiti, I’m all too aware of the evangelical frustration with the commercialization of Christmas. “It’s not about presents, it’s about Jesus!”. Even this, you see, God has redeemed. It’s hard to admit that secular and capitalist culture is right in a way. Christmas is indeed, all Read more…
The Old Testament is constantly battling to dethrone the myth that power is manifest in human might and strength. The book of Isaiah in particular takes up a polemic against this wrong conceptualization of power. We find this in one of the most famous of messianic prophecies, Isaiah 7:14. We Read more…
I really appreciate Oswald Chambers. He had a sharp mind. I don’t know how many times I’ve read My Utmost for His Highest and it’s still my first choice for a daily devo. Through Chambers, God has often times corrected my theology (good theology, by the way, is crucial to Read more…
C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, reflects on Jesus’s incarnation with this: Did you ever think, when you were a child, what fun it would be if your toys could come to life? Well suppose you could really have brought them to life. Imagine turning a tin soldier into a real Read more…