It has been quite a journey on the third rock from the sun this 2009 ... personally and for our world. I entered the year still emerging from the dark days of being divorced by Pamella. But 2009 is the year I learned to laugh again. In January I moved back into my house after a year in exile in an apartment. My focus has been throughout most of the year to be a good dad for Rachael and Talya, this has been no small task. I have learned to loath the custodial arrangements invented by some lawyer and imposed by family courts. But we make the most...
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
The following article, “The Revised Testament and Rebaptism,” appeared in the Gospel Advocate near the end of David Lipscomb’s career. It is significant in showing the continuity of his rejection of rebaptism throughout his life. I will place in parenthesis () when the text moves onto p. 922. The brackets [] are in the original article. The "Common Version" is the KJV, the Revised Version is the 1881 revision, the American edition is known as...
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Greetings from the "wintery" land of Saguaros and Scorpions. It just doesnt seem like winter when you are in short sleeves and flip-flops!! Most of my life within Churches of Christ Christmas has been the object of scorn nearly worthy of the ACLU and other secularist folk. I have long since been quite convinced that such an approach was neither wise nor even called for from a biblical standpoint. It seems to me that Christmas is not about a specific...
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
In our previous two posts on ancient Christmas hymns we have looked at key figures in the history of Christian hymnody and now we move a century down to another pivotal figure: Anatolius of Constantinople (died 458). Anatolius is a significant figure just about anyway one slices Christian history (even apart from his impact on hymnody). He became bishop of Constantinople in 449 three years before the Council of Chalcedon (451) that has been seen as a turning point in the history of Christian thought (for good or ill). But his contributions in...
Monday, December 21, 2009
(I placed this on my blog last year, partly because of my own situation. My life has changed drastically in the last year but I know from experience that Christmas is not all joy for many. So I offer this once again for the hurting in our midst and for the churches to minister to them)What do you think of around Christmas? What do you normally see at a Nativity ... even one at a church? There are usually animals. Mary, Joseph, Wise men all have...
Saturday, December 19, 2009
I have shared two early Christian hymns (and more on the way) that focus on the Christmas season but now I want to share an early Christmas sermon by an eastern Syriac Christian named Narsai who lived about 1500 years ago. Narsai (ca. A.D. 399-503) has been called “the Harp of the Holy Spirit” for his gift of doing theology in poetry. He did not believe doctrine was dry, boring or irrelevant; rather vibrant and full of life. I thought it would be appropriate here in light of the hymn that saw Christmas from Josephus' point of view ... Narsai...
Thursday, December 17, 2009
One of the giants of early Christian hymnody is a man known as Ephraem the Syrian. Ephraem thrived in the 300s and died in the year 379. Ephraem rescued the practice of singing from an ill reputation because the Gnostics had seized upon the art form as a way of promoting their heretical views on Jesus. Ephraem who apparently had a spiritual gift in hymn writing turned the art form back to the faith. His songs are characterized by a deceptive...
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
We are setting out our Christmas decor this evening, that along with the "cool" wintry weather just sort of puts one in the "mood" for Christmas ... after all it was a frosty 70 something today! And since I am home alone doing that which is communal by nature I thought I would share an ancient Christmas hymn dating to around 400 A.D. It is nice to know that over the course of one thousand six hundred years we still have some "fellowship" with the saints through joyous song. One of the most highly regarded Latin poets of Christian antiquity,...
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
First I want to express thanks to all those who have sent notes expressing a desire for new editions of my blog. I am pleasantly surprised in fact by the number of those I have received. I have needed a break actually as I continue to reorient my life. Two years ago Hell rather than Christmas arrived. Today my life looks so different than it did then. Second I get requests for book recommendations frequently so I offer a few for the Christmas season ... here are some great quotes on reading ...The worth of a book is to be measured by what you...
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