Jesus always welcomed children, stopping everything to do so. Have you ever tried to "sort of" welcome a child? You can't! If you're going to welcome them, you have to drop everything. The Kingdom of God is the same way.
A tribute to my professor the late JI Packer, who I had half a conversation with once. Paul greets Titus with his usual salutation but it’s packed (hehe) with treasures.
Paul sends Titus instructions for going to the difficult area of Crete. One of their own philosophers called them all liars and brutes. Their local mythology was full of stories of their conniving, double-crossing deities.
The Pericope Adulterae, or as we probably call it “Jesus and the Women Taken in Adultery”, is a bit of a homeless story. Most of the best manuscripts either don’t include it or don’t include it in this part of John. Despite this, many scholars believe it to be historical and it certainly seems like Jesus, leaning down next to the woman and doodling in the sand. That’s where the geocache is.
As with any human community, myths and rumors have a way of becoming "fact" in the echo chamber. Through Sunday school lessons and sermon illustrations, there are a few of these stories that have made their way into the Christian conversation. Our faith is rooted in history, and anything that comes between the history and our faith story may not be outright harmful but isn't too helpful.
Get on your oxygen tank and pack your best gear, this one's way at the top! Paul talks at length about meat offered to idols – not a conversation we’re used to having in the modern world, but a very everyday concern in Corinth. Paul writes to them about the hermeneutic of love, the driving principle that should determine your behavior as a community in Christ. A very localized pastoral discussion that still has application for us today. Also, you get to listen to me trip over my own tongue tryin...
We've all heard the story that the rainbow was the symbol of God's promise to Noah, but have we looked closer at the actual text? As usual, it's got more dimension and color than we might have thought. God's promise, using some metaphorical imagery that would have made sense to the original readers, that he will always work with us and won't start humanity over again.
The second in my guest star series! Financial advisor Paul West CFP®, CAP®, sits down to talk with us about stewarding money and serving the financial needs of families all across the financial spectrum. This episode is a tour de force of me talking with someone much smarter than myself about how money works, how philanthropy works and how to frame it all in faith. There's also a brief interlude about the '86 Chicago Bears. Enjoy.
Jesus’ baptism takes a few paragraphs but ties together the story of Israel and all humanity. “It is happening again.”
My first guest star! My pastor, Dan Hintz, puts his enormous brain to work on a geocache in church history. Pandemics are part of the early growth of the church, in which the believers served the sick and dying in a way that astounded the surrounding society. We discuss the Antoine Plague (250-260 AD) and the Plague of Cyprian (165-175 AD). Our ancestors in the faith showed a love born out of their theology, which offered more hope and greater dimension than the predominate pagan folk beliefs. T...
Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener. God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. Pay attention.
Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey in a torrent of misunderstanding about His identity. But the upset and confusion is just beginning. Big changes on the way.
Jesus prophesies the destruction of the temple in AD 70 in the genre of the apocalyptic, a highly symbolic language that's more about feelings than exact events. He is Lord, even when it seems like the world is ending.
Matthew 16. Jesus takes the disciples to Caesarea Philippi, a temple to the fertility god Pan and a cross between a Red Light district and a frat party gone way wrong. Here at the corner of desperation and dissolution, Jesus asks us, Who do you say that I am?
Jesus heals a man at the Pool of Bethesda – a location that was a hospital, a witch doctor and a dumping ground for people with disabilities. In short, a repository of desperation.
Paul writes "let your gentleness be evident to all." When was the last time we as Christians were called out on our gentleness?
Jesus turns the water into wine at a wedding. How much wine we talkin'? Why would He do a miracle involving a luxury item?
The phenomenon of speaking in tongues – Glossolalia – was well-known in the surrounding cults and other faiths in the ancient world. Paul's discussion of it in Corinthians speaks to a larger pastoral issue.
"And about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them, walking on the sea..." The story of Jesus walking on water is iconic, baffling and a little frightening. What does the language used tell us about who Jesus is? What were beliefs at the time about the sea? Let's geocache!
If you grew up like I did, John 3:16 is tattooed on the inside of your eyelids. Did you know that the phrase "born again" has a double meaning? What exactly was going on in this late-night rooftop conversation?
Joseph, husband of Mary and step-father of Christ, has no recorded dialogue. What do the few lines about him scripture tell us about who he was? His short cameo was vital to the story.
A geocache on who people thought John the Baptist was, what he did, and why that made e'rybody so mad.
Isaiah 11: "...a shoot will come from Jesse." Throughout the Old Testament, God's people are cut down again and again, but a remnant of hope always remains. The Great Hope grew from an unlikely place when all seemed lost.
In Matthew 10, and many other places, Jesus refers to himself as the "Son of Man." Where does that term come from?
Astrology and astronomy were synonymous in the ancient world. What did it mean when the Magi said they "saw His star"?
Matthew sets this famous sermon on a mountain. Luke sets it on a plain. What up with dat?
Everyone else calls him Levi, he calls himself Matthew. Why?
This episode's geocache looks at the well-worn story of the Woman at the Well. Yes, there's cultural tensions and religious differences, but let's dig even deeper to see how Jesus treats this forgotten, thrown-away person.
This week's geocache looks at Jesus' reinstatement of Peter in John 21. Peter, do you love me? He asks him three times, but the nuances of language might tell us something different. Let's get digging.
