The season of Lent “reminds us to live in God’s time and not the world’s time,” observes Katy Lines (ECS, ’98), pastor at Englewood Christian Church in Indianapolis. It places our personal and communal stories within the larger narrative of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. In recent conversations with the…
Yaa Gyasi’s second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, opens with epigraphs from poets Gerard Manley Hopkins and Sharon Olds. The quotation from Hopkins, though over a century earlier than Olds’, is probably the less obscure: “the world is charged with the grandeur of God./It will flame out,…
NEW LIGHT ON OLD TEXTS: WOMEN IN MINISTRY IN PAUL’S TIME AND OURS Robert F. Hull, Jr., PhD, Professor Emeritus of New Testament, Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan More than forty years ago I was assigned to work on a committee with…
As we enter in the holy presence of God this week, we gather ourselves around the pink candle which marks what was traditionally known as “Gaudete Sunday,” literally, “Rejoice” Sunday. The rose-colored candle that stands in the cocoon of the Advent wreath is a symbol to remind us of the…
The Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise in Luke 1:46-55, is a Gospel passage that we often overlook during this season when we celebrate the birth of the Christ child. Although reminiscent of the ancient Israelite Psalms in its form and themes, this song of Mary does not get the attention…
In the last few decades, several global realities have been reminders of the possibility of end times. The threat of nuclear war, COVID-19, global warming, and the effects of the rising seas are threatening life on earth. The world’s leading climate scientists who met last month in Glasgow delivered a…
About twenty years ago, a supervisor shared with me the idea of “work hard, play hard.” Those words hang emblazoned in gold on my wall as a reminder to both myself and my teammates that those words matter. Sure, hard work is important and so too is play. Pastors leading…
Some years ago, I was working for Marriott and assisting with setup prior to opening a new hotel in Abingdon. A small crew of men from Honduras were tasked with facing the front of the building with rock. They brought with them a massive load of thin, flat rocks which…
For the past fifteen years, I have been involved in bi-vocational ministry. I work full-time as a ministry professor at Milligan University. I also work as a “part-time” minister at Crossroads Christian Church in Gray, TN. For the past five years, I have been the lead minister at the church.
Over the past year and half, sermon-planning has taken a backseat to wrestling with weekly changes, complaints about Covid responses, and a general loss of motivation. Many of us feel the need to get back into the groove of creating fabulous messages that contribute to the culture God is shaping…
