I once fancied myself a summer man. My most formative times were the summers between sixth grade and before going to college, when my family had a house on Fire Island. The sounds of the ocean waves crashing against the shore aided my sleep, and the salt air wasn’t just…
Read MoreHymnHouse is the latest project from singer-songwriter Blake Flattley. This collaborative musical effort seeks to continue the great tradition of hymnody, telling the story of Christ and His Church. You can expect to hear re-tuned hymns, new arrangements, and new music that fits into a liturgical life of worship.
Read MoreEl Río de los Brazos de Dios, the river that runs through Waco, TX, was named for its “arms” (brazos) by which God nourishes the land…
Read MoreThe morning begins with a whisper of light,
a slow, steady sunrise,
spilling gold across the sky.
The Paris Olympics took place in the summer of 2024. Paris, the city of love and romance and bodily freedom, played host to some of the most fit bodies in the world competing for precious metals. We love the Olympics because they…
Read MoreI was reading David Zahl’s latest, The Big Relief: The Urgency of Grace for a Worn-Out World, and along the way, I started thinking about what the relief he describes would look like in a local congregation. I resonated with the idea that “The church has been the place I go when there’s no place left to go” for relief…
Read MoreSometimes I think my best art is my journal writing just between me and God. There is no pressure to be liked. There is no fear of being wrong. There is no insecurity about someone else’s art being better than mine. There is no worry that someone might think I’m cheesy or lame or too cynical or too cheerful. I just say what I’m thinking and feeling, and he hears…
Read MoreWhen I look at the church and the body I belong to in Grayslake, IL, I am so thankful. We are blessed with many kind, hardworking, compassionate brothers and sisters who know the Bible and love Jesus. Then, when I step back and ponder the big “C” worldwide Church, I am…
Read MoreHoly Spirit,
You have descended time and time again
both to confuse and elevate language.
Heavenly Father,
May I find joy
in the ordinary, mundane good works…
As Adam left the Garden
With Eve close by his side,
As inward, hearts were hardened,
And eastward, daylight died…
“Do you think we are going to make it?” Every vocation asks this eventually. When husband and wife see beyond the fig leaves that covered all the shame during courtship and early marriage, one asks “Are we going to make it?” When friendship hits that make-or-break moment, one asks, “Is this friendship worth it?” Some vocations…
Read Morewhen i feel like
i am
less…
Ministry is unimaginable apart from community, not just in a community, but with a community. The rugged individualist, John Wayne, and the celebrity pastor are not models to emulate. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. Ministry doesn’t begin isolated in the pastor’s study, but in the heart of the Triune Community. The…
Read MoreA long time ago, in old Israel dwelling
There lived a man Jonah, whose story I’m telling.
Now Jonah was special, what they call a prophet,
Who spoke with the Lord, not a person to scoff at…
Ada Calhoun writes in her article, To Stay Married, Embrace Change in the New York Times on 4/21/2017, “Several long-married people I know have said this exact line: ‘I’ve had at least three marriages. They’ve just all been with the same person’.” It is the same in the…
Read MoreHymn text translated by John Mason Neale
Arrangement, additional text & melody by Kristin Schweain
Read MoreLord, on this day, we ask you to forgive us. Forgive us for the times when we have pointed with disdain at our neighbor for their sin while neglecting to see our own. Forgive us for refusing to acknowledge our own biases…
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