Category Archives: Theology

Star Trek: The Voyage of the Magi Caravan

When God spoke about his Son to these magi from the east, he did it in a way that they could understand. He used the language of astral ascensions and declinations. God knows how to communicate; he speaks to people in their own language. He comes to us where we are, in ways we can understand. Continue reading →

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The World Is Too Much in Us

How can we hear God speak in “a still, small voice” when our ears are being assaulted by the washing machine, the baby’s cries, and the incessant dinging of text alerts? Continue reading →

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Hebrews 10:5-10 (Fourth Sunday in Advent)

But the Son of God did not undergo incarnation – bilaminar disc formation, cell mass differentiation, organogenesis, and nine month’s internment in a womb – to make people religious. Continue reading →

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Hope! I Need Somebody (Hope! Not Just Anybody)

I looked at him in wonder. Here was a man from whom everything had been taken. His former life was gone. His world was a bed. His body was a prison. And the last two months had been the best two months of his life? Continue reading →

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The Visited Planet

If we were to make a list of the things from which we need to be saved, sin would probably not be at the top. If it made the list at all, it would come somewhere after hair loss and high cholesterol. Continue reading →

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Mary Knew Who (No, it’s not a Dr. Seuss Story)

But when you don’t know Who, Why can ground you into dust. Why, God, did you allow this to happen to me? Why did you let my wife suffer this illness? Why let the business I work for close down? Why make me the way you did? Why? Why? Why? Continue reading →

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A Case in Point: Christmas and the Competence of God

If God were to write a resume, what kinds of things might he include on it? One thing is for certain: it would not be like any other resume ever written. Who else has worked as a universe creator, galaxy-spinner, nuclear engineer, quantum mechanic, genetics specialist, wind-maker, earth-shaker, sky-walker, life-giver? Continue reading →

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Searching for the Gate of Heaven

In language intended to evoke Jacob’s experience at the “gate of heaven,” Jesus told the disciple Nathaniel, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Continue reading →

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What Are We Doing When We Worship?

Some people think of church as if it were a spiritual or emotional filling station. I’m running low, so I’d better go to church, or I won’t make it through the week. But that makes it all about me, which makes worship impossible. Continue reading →

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Grateful People Know These Two Things About God

You may think: “I already know that. God is strong. God is loving. Everybody knows that.” But our worry and our ingratitude testify that it has not gone from doctrine to practice, from head to heart. Continue reading →

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