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  • CREC Polity

    CREC Polity

    I was recently asked if the CREC is Presbyterian. This is part of my response: It’s a very attenuated version of presbyterianism — small “p” presbyterianism, I suppose. We certainly are presbyterian in a fundamental sense because we have presbyteries and they perform many of the roles traditionally granted to presbyteries (eg, appeals court, examining… Read more

  • Easter Miscellanies

    Easter Miscellanies

    Here are some things that have been on my mind during this Easter season: In the sermon on 4/7/24 on Matthew 27:57-28:20, I made the assumption that the guards at the tomb where Jesus was buried were Roman. The question was asked afterward if they could have been Jewish guards. The text is not clear… Read more

  • On the Reformation

    On the Reformation

    Jaroslav Pelikan gives an interesting perspective on the Reformation: “In fact, recent research on the Reformation entitles us to sharpen it and to say that the Reformation began because the reformers were too catholic in the midst of a church that had forgotten its catholicity. That generalization applies particularly to Luther and to some of… Read more

  • 4/28/24 Sermon Follow-Up: Justification by (fill in the blank)

    4/28/24 Sermon Follow-Up: Justification by (fill in the blank)

    Justification by (fill in the blank). My sermon was based on the premise that justification is not just a Christian concern, but an innate human concern. All people operate out of a desire for justification — to be declared in the right, to be innocent, to be validated, to be vindicated. A great deal of human… Read more

  • Tribute to a Black Dog

    Tribute to a Black Dog

    “I wish good dogs never got gray and old…” – Riley Green “That’s putting a lot of trust in a dog,” White said. “Right now,” Sanderson said bleakly, “a dog’s all we got left to put any trust in”….. I don’t guess a dog understands many words, but I think he can listen and tell… Read more

  • Cary, NC Conference — The Psalms: Getting to the Heart of the Christian Life

    Cary, NC Conference — The Psalms: Getting to the Heart of the Christian Life

    Next weekend, I’ll be speaking at Christ Church in Cary, NC. The details are here. Here’s a quick overview of my talks: The Psalms are at the center of our Bibles and at the center of the Christian life. The psalter is amazingly versatile, covering every human emotion, from the deepest agony to the highest… Read more