😯
Relax. It’s just a game. And after almost three hours, it seems to be entering the final stages (judging by the comment I just heard and used for this post’s title). Read it all
Christianity
Remembering and Redeeming Days of Infamy
Baptizing bad memories with forgiveness and grace
Some days etch themselves into our personal and group history and emotions like a plasma cutter’s engravery on a slab of polished diamond. Read it all
The Christian Bares of Trillium Lake?
Laid bare: a lake, a mountain, and other handiwork of the Creator
Yesterday we had a family outing to Trillium Lake. (It was a birthday thing.)
This morning early I thought back on the other vistas of God’s creation which awaited us there. And I wondered…
- How many of those nude legs belong to women worship team members?
- How many of those barely covered breasts have the heart of a female Sunday School teacher beating behind them?
- How many Christian male eyeballs tracked back for one more discreet look?
- How many Christian men wrestled with wistful wishes, treacheous thoughts, and deadly desires?
- How much ache in the Creator’s heart?
- Will His heart have any revulsion in church services today?
You could read that as me looking down my nose on fellow Christians or fellow fallen humans. You could accuse me of being a Puritanical prude. You could charge me with contemptuous condemnation. You could slam me for sanctimonious something-or-other. And you’d be wrong.
I’m not blind to the beauty of forbidden fruit, OK? But in my other-world moments I look beyond eyeball-grabbing displays and feel compassion. Read it all
Why God Stepped Down
A simple overview of the Eternal Spirit's objectives in taking on mortal flesh
Here is my second draft summary of some of God’s purposes in the Incarnation:
- Live a sinless life.
- Learn obedience through suffering.
- Be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
- Give us an example.
- Defeat the devil.
- Vanquish death.
- Bear our sins and make atonement for them.
- Become our faithful High Priest.
- Rise again for our justification.
- Redeem us to God.
- Gain our victory over the flesh and sin.
- Make effective blood shed in the Old Testament systems of sacrifices.
Please help me refine the list with your comments below. Read it all
An Essential Part of the Holy Spirit’s Work
He moves His people only to glorify Jesus.
God’s Spirit never guides in opposition to God’s Word.
Neither does He overlook the person and glory of Jesus.
As we approach the end, deception will continue to increase. Do not be confused or enticed by any message or revelation, said to come from the Holy Spirit, that has little to declare about Jesus and His glory.
Even in our day, over 2000 years after Pentecost, an essential part of the Holy Spirit’s work is to glorify Christ. Read it all
No Butter in Butterflies?
No obedience in grace?
No sane researcher would waste his time trying extract butter and flies from butterflies, but plenty of theologians have squandered their lives trying to sever the link between grace and obedience!
-Mark Roth, circa Spring 1993
When a Pastor Gives Up…
who will weep, who will shoulder the blame?
This evening I feel twinges of nostalgia and sadness. And perhaps a twitch of a whiff of bitterness? No, I overcame that a long time ago.
Twenty-five years ago this evening, at the Mennonite church in Santa María (Sonora, Mexico), the first national minister of that congregation was ordained.
As I recall, my Dad (James Roth) gave the charge. And as I recall, the church’s “founding father” (Joe Mast) as well as two members of BMF Missions (Merle Kropf and Wilton Smucker) were there from Oregon as well. I was the congregation’s pastor.
I continued in that role til I resigned in March or April (as I fuzzily recall) so Manuel Torres could take over. My family and I had to leave the field (in May, I think). Read it all