The renowned 20th century Scottish evangelical biblical scholar Dr. F.F. Bruce authored his magnum opus on the Apostle Paul with the best title ever! Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free was Dr. Bruce’s masterwork contribution to 20th century Pauline studies, continuing Bruce’s lifetime mission to present the Bible as
Continue reading
Although chronologically out of order, it seems logical to keep all of our Pauline resurrection moments together. Yesterday we visited with Paul’s own account of encountering the Risen Christ, but Paul is laconic in his several citations of this life-changing moment. Today let’s let a master storyteller give us the
Continue reading
The New Testament contains approximately 17 instances in 8 books of the resurrected Jesus appearing and interacting with various disciples. Not all are as obvious as you might think, so I thought we might spend this week visiting several to listen to our Risen Lord and watch our Christian forebears
Continue reading
The very best Easter acclamation I ever heard came from our young daughter very early one Easter morning as she excitedly rushed into our bedroom, realizing what morning it was. “Daddy, Daddy, he’s…..Rosen!” she exclaimed, teaching me that verbal past tense is a beautifully theological tool! Yes indeed, He has
Continue reading
My mother was an accomplished lay minister, a powerful spiritual director, longtime practitioner of guided spiritual direction, a daily scripture reader, and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology when women were just breaking into that field. She would often teach in her counseling groups and during retreats, Accept No Substitutes! Her
Continue reading
Uh, er, after yesterday’s deep philological dive into Easter vocabulary I appreciate the three readers willing to continue with me here….ah, em, we’ll try to not geek like that too often. And before anyone draws the direct reference of today’s reflection title with Frank Herbert’s epic 1965 Dune (and there
Continue reading
Many of you have commented upon my vocabulary in these reflections, for which I thank my parents and several brutal English teachers from Saint Mary’s Episcopal Day School and Jesuit High School in Tampa. Good writers like C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and others have also colluded in my grammatical formation.
Continue reading
Our liturgical worship is predicated upon a theological chronology witnessing to core elements of the life of Jesus in a calendar format. You may notice certain numbers which attract sacral attention for a multitude of reasons embedded in our church calendar. The number 1, the basic unit of Jewish time,
Continue reading
Alleluia, Christ is Risen! Now we pivot from the somber Lenten season and intense Holy Week, what Egeria called the Great Week, to the Great 50 Days of Easter I will call simply Eastertide. I pray fervently that we also pivot from the darkness of COVID-19 to the dawning light
Continue reading
LET US KEEP THE FEAST, ALLELUIA! Now we can, finally, share the Alleluia once again! Now those hebdomadarii can finally eat after the Great Week concludes with Sunday feasting, and so can we! For 50 days no one in Egeria’s world fasted, an astonishingly efficient way to finish the remaining
Continue reading