How should we think about and determine the legitimacy of calls to ministry? Are occasional providences indications of God’s will? What might ministerial defiance look like for pastors and prachers? We asked Art Azurdia… Listen to the sermon (Jonah 1:1-3): As a pastor and seminary professor, how do you want people to think about this […]
Month: November 2013
Is God a “He” or a “She”?
During Holy Week, the week before Easter, a crucifixion statue representing Christ as a woman was displayed behind the altar at an Episcopal cathedral in New York. The bronze work, created by sculptor Edwina Sandays, was referred to as “Christa.” I once heard a female pastor begin her prayer, “Dear God, our Father and Mother.” […]
Social Justice in Ancient Israel
With Tim Harmon Social justice: politicians talk about it, protesters protest about it, and Christians put on conferences about it. What does it all mean? Well, for starters, our parents were right: life is not fair…and less fair for some than for others. Indeed, it seems that we can no more escape inequality than we […]
Is There a NT Pattern for Church Leadership?
Is there a New Testament pattern for church leadership? In my last post “Sola Scriptura or Not,” I asked this very important question. While I believe the New Testament is almost devoid of specifics in terms of prescriptions for church leadership, there is enough consistency in the descriptive passages that seem to indicate God’s leading […]
Messes That Multiply
Some years ago, I was in a messy traffic accident. As I approached the scene of an earlier accident, I slowed to about 30 MPH. When the man directing traffic motioned for me to keep moving through the intersection, I started to speed back up. That’s when an elderly lady, thinking the man was motioning […]