There are certain predictable moments as a child grows up. The “terrible twos” occur when a babies realize that they are not extensions of their mothers but rather individuals with their own needs and desires. They are terrible because the child does not have the maturity to communicate this effectively. Adolescence is a particularly dramatic… Read More »

So there are three who testify, the Spirit, the water, and the Blood,  and the three are of one accord. To  understand this rather odd statement in St. John’s first epistle we must look at the historical context. By the end of the first century, sixty or so years after Jesus’ death when this epistle… Read More »

Tony Gittens who used to teach at CTU compared the “great commission” at the end of St. Matthew’s gospel with the inaugural sermon of Jesus in Nazareth in St. Luke. Jesus’ last words in Matthew are to go out, to make disciples, to baptize and to teach. He observed that this commission is related to… Read More »

Christians believe that Jesus is the savior of the world. That thought is captured in the epistle of St. John: Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. Getting people on the “Jesus team” has been a powerful motivation for mission. You didn’t want all those… Read More »

Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. For St. John the criterion for membership is pretty straightforward — love. In the gospel of Matthew Jesus says, “Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but… Read More »

Last year my brother was very sick. The family rallied around him and saw that he got the care he needed to recover. Now he is thriving. We went out of our way to care for him because that is what families do. The gospel challenges us to expand our notion of family. St. John… Read More »

One of my favorite authors, Annie Dillard, observed that if you want to see the stars you must leave you nice, warm, comfortable, well-lit room and go out into the darkness. We might add, and if you are looking for a particular star you must go into the darkness often since the stars move with… Read More »

The question of Jesus — “What are you looking for?” — has echoed down the ages. In 1986 U2 sang,  “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” That almost forty year old song captured the reality of my generation. (Does it still resonate with the younger generation?) The song describes looking for love,… Read More »

In the “Peanuts” cartoon Linus once gave a deep sigh, “There is no heavier burden than a great potential.” While we shouldn’t feel burdened we do have a great potential, in fact the hightest potential. See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so… Read More »

One expression in the early days of the ecumenical movement was “doctrine divides, service unites.” The idea was that Christians should stop arguing about theological differences and instead feed the hungry, house the homeless, care of the sick, etc. While you can understand where that point of view comes from the saints remembered today, Basil… Read More »