Category: Blog
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Charles Wesley 300
Charles Wesley was born on December 18, 1707, making today his tercentennial. Let the welkin ring with Wesley hymns today –he wrote well over five thousand, and you can check out about 370 over at the Wesley Center. Good congregations are never far away from a Wesley hymn, and at Christmas time we’re all hearing…
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You Can’t Spell
At a party recently, all the kids discovered a tetherball post in the host’s backyard. Waiting for the inevitable minor head injury that was sure to follow, I was musing pessimistically, “you can’t spell tetherball without the letters H, E, R, T.” Even worse, I thought, you can rearrange the letters in tetherball to spell…
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The Happiest Time of the Year
Do you want to be happy? If you are an American, it is overwhelmingly likely that you do. Americans are preoccupied with being happy, especially during the Christmas holiday season. This creates false expectations and can easily lead to depression. People are also terribly confused about what happiness is and how it is obtained and,…
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Examinations as Evangelization
Having just completed about thirty hours of oral examinations with approximately sixty students, I am tired. Yet, the process is always rewarding. What a joy to see how students are growing intellectually, emotionally and in every other way. And today, I also learn from an unexpected source that these examinations were also missional. “Huh,” you…
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Dragon Protagonist
Knight versus dragon, but note how the dragon is a biped who seems to be communicating via sign language. His mouth is politely closed, and the flame shooting from his nostrils barely extends further than his claws. The knight, on the other hand, holds his means defense off to one side, and brandishes his weapon…
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Mr. Collins Apologizes to Aspirin
MY DEAR BOTTLE OF BAYER, I feel myself constrained by your medical qualifications and my own recent physical indispositions of a cranial character, to call upon your services. Be assured, my dear Aspirin, that Mrs. Collins and myself sincerely desire the cessation, and that immediate, of the discomfort which has settled upon a man of…
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Thriller at 25
Okay, I know he’s a little weird. But at the beginning of his solo career, that Michael Jackson was unstoppable. His breathtaking Thriller turned 25 last week. He had already dropped a discofied Off the Wall, but Thriller was something else entirely. Take a look at the playlist: Wanna Be Startin’ Something’ Baby Be Mine…
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Foundations for University Study
It is amazing how much time and effort parents put into raising their children. We get them immunized, take them to the dentist, and pray that they don’t need braces. We take them to birthday parties, soccer, football and basketball practice. Given all the effort we put into the raising of our children, it is…
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The Pope on Hope
On Nov. 30, Pope Benedict XVI issued the second encyclical of his pontificate. Spe Salvi, “saved by hope,” is a thoughtful and stimulating document by this elderly bishop of Rome. We shouldn’t expect anything less from Joseph Ratzinger, who would have been one of the major theologians of the 20th century even if he hadn’t…
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Dying for Infamy
There’s a song on the Canadian band Nickelback’s latest album, All the Right Reasons, entitled “Rockstar.” Front man, Chad Kroeger, sings, I want a brand new house on an episode of Cribs And a bathroom I can play baseball in I’ll need a credit card that’s got no limit And a big black jet with…
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Come, Thou Long Expected Servant
Advent is upon us, and as God’s good timing would have it, I spent all Tuesday last week reading and many hours throughout the week discussing Isaiah with students. Often spoken of as a ‘fifth gospel’, the book of Isaiah is a feast for Old Testament Jesus-watchers. That’s helped by Handel, whose Messiah teaches us…
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Praying on World AIDS Day
It’s World AIDS Day today. We tend to get faddish about issues. A buzz starts up about a particular need in the world, and many of us jump on a bandwagon of support, buying T-shirts and seeing movies and, sometimes, praying. Too often, our interest wanes as soon as the issue becomes ‘so last year.’…