Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lack’d anything. “A guest,” I answer’d, “worthy to be here”; Love said, “You shall be he.” “I, the unkind, the ungrateful? […]
When you are surrounded by people speaking another language, it can be a bit intimidating. The foreign language may ring beautiful like an Italian opera or scratch like fingers on a chalkboard. But if you do not understand the language, it all sounds muddled, like Charlie Brown's teacher. Languages are the walls that outline the […]
At first glance, it appears that hospitality is a pretty straightforward concept’inviting people over to your (reasonably tidy) home for a meal and conversation, for the purpose of developing your relationship and deepening your friendship. Easier said than done in twenty-first century society in the age of commuter churches, busy families, demanding work schedules, and […]
Hospitality is a fading art. Of course, we still host and enjoy meals at one another's homes. But now they are often lavish with hours of preparation, putting out the china for the boss or for friends. It's hard to imagine what was normal not that long ago: making an extra bowl of stew in […]
It was the perfect meal plan: lunch for three with French fries and chicken pot pies’a two dollar lunch that even I could cook. I read the instructions on both packages and simply averaged oven times and temperatures to thirty minutes and 400 degrees for everything. It was August in Philadelphia, and the defunct A/C […]
In the not too distant past, how hosts and guests were to behave toward one another was carefully regulated by custom and tradition. Dinner guests knew what was expected of them, and hosts were bound by well-accepted and even formulaic guidelines on how to make their guests feel welcome. A mother a generation or two […]
I had seen the man before, but I could not remember where. Mr. Smith (not his real name) was middle-aged, pleasant enough, and looked like he had something important to tell me. We stepped aside to avoid the crowd coming out of the church sanctuary after our Sunday morning service. He introduced himself and reminded […]
What are the signs of the Spirit’s presence? Christians commonly ask questions like this, yet far too often the conversation immediately turns to debates about experiences of ecstasy. While these discussions are legitimate, it is surprising how often we miss one of the main indications of the Spirit’s presence in the New Testament. To recognize […]
Nowadays, "Christian community" is a highly elastic term. It can refer to anything from a homeschool co-op to members of a dating website. Rather than recognizing Christian community as a gift from heaven created by word and sacrament, we tend to view it as a voluntary association created by like-minded individuals who share enthusiasm for […]
The church's witness is necessarily political, but in its political witness the church must first and foremost be the church. Faithfulness to the gospel mission trumps allegiance to any other political agenda. Such is the general consensus among the contributors to Christian Political Witness. Beyond that, when it comes to practical Christian political involvement, the […]
By publishing their small booklet Why Christ Came: 31 Meditations on the Incarnation, Joel R. Beeke and William Boekestein have done a great service to the church. The original intention, as stated in the preface, was to "help us more deeply celebrate [Christ's] birth, allow us to see more clearly how it is connected with […]
This sounds like the setup to a joke, but the punch line is true: What do you get when you combine an outlaw Bible professor, a runaway nun, and a dilapidated Augustinian monastery? The first Reformation parsonage. The Black Cloister, known today as Luther Haus, was built in 1504 with the support of the elector […]
