As we begin 2017, it is good to think about what has been and what is to come. There were many people who started 2016 not knowing that it would be their last. I’ve known them. And so have you. We are not so different from them, are we? When I look in the rearview mirror, I see the years gathering up behind me, and I can hardly believe how quickly they’ve piled up. As life rattles forward, it seems the earth makes its annual journey a little quicker than the year before. Where have the years gone?
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“Nonjudgmental affirmation” is not a parenting strategy
National Geographic has released a special issue titled “Gender Revolution,” and it includes one article offering advice for parents of transgender children. Here is the bottom line: Your most important role as a parent is to offer understanding, respect, and support to your child. A nonjudgmental approach will gain your child’s trust and put you in a better position to help your child through difficult times. When your child discloses an identity to you, respond in an affirming, supportive way… In short, parents must affirm whatever identity a child embraces or risk “harming” their child. But there are some obvious questions that never get asked and answered in this article.…
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A Plan to Read through the Bible in 2017
In years past, my customary mode for reading through the Bible every year involved starting in Genesis and reading right through to Revelation. I estimated that about four chapters per day would get me through in under a year’s time. The method worked reasonably well, but it wasn’t without its problems. Sometimes I would miss a day (or days) and get behind, and I had no way to keep up with my progress. I needed a schedule so that I could keep myself accountable for finishing in a year. In 2009, therefore, I did something I had never done before. I followed a Bible reading plan. I adopted Robert Murray…
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Let every heart prepare him room!
How could there possibly be anything more mysterious and wonderful than the incarnation of Jesus Christ? God became a man. God took on mortal human flesh and became subject to all the things that every other mortal is subject to. He sneezed. He coughed. He got headaches and an upset stomach. Every morning he got up, shook the dust out of His hair, and put his hand to the plow in his Father’s field. Jesus Christ was not only subject to sickness, but also to death. The eternal Son of God was die-able. In fact, he did die. And three days later, what was mortal became swallowed up by immortality…
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The remarkable woman behind “In the Bleak Midwinter”
Last year, Karen Swallow Prior had a fascinating piece at TGC about the author of “In the Bleak Mid-Winter.” Her name is Christina Rossetti (1830–1894), and Prior writes that she was a woman of “deep Christian conviction.” Prior concludes: The paradox of Rossetti’s life is that her “spirit of self-postponement” produced some of the finest Christian poetry written—the gift of herself, given to her Savior and received by the world. I commend to you the rest of Prior’s essay, which you can read here. I also recommend two versions of the song that are staples around my house during this time of year. My favorite version is Shawn Colvin’s, and…
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A drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business
In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge has a startling conversation with the ghost of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley. Jacob is damned in death for his misdeeds in life, and he appears to warn Scrooge that he is headed for the same fate. Scrooge resists the suggestion that Jacob’s life was damnable. Scrooge understands that if Jacob’s life is damnable, then so is his own. So this exchange ensues: “But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself. “Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing his hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business;…
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“Riva” (a short film)
Riva is a beautifully executed short film from Chris Wiegand about a homeless woman on a journey to find healing for her broken, bleeding hands. It’s loosely based on Mark 5:34, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” The film has won seven awards, including “Best Film” at the 2015 Annual 168 Film Festival. You can watch it above. Well done, Chris!
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Are counter-imperial readings of the Bible about to make a comeback?
Over the weekend, Mike Bird made a canny prediction on Twitter: I predict with a Trump presidency that empire criticism is about to get jacked, ripped, and buffed in the coming 4 years. — mbird (@mbird12) December 11, 2016 If you are not familiar with “empire criticism,” it is an approach to reading the Bible (especially the New Testament) that approaches Scripture as a “coded” critique of imperial regimes. According to this approach, those who are reading the biblical text carefully will notice parallels between gospel terminology and that of the first century Caesar cult. When read in that light, it is clear that the gospel is meant to oppose…
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Christmas in Kentucky… Everywhere it’s Christmas!
On his most recent Christmas album, Steven Curtis Chapman has a song about returning to his hometown of Paducah, Kentucky for Christmas. But this song is not sappy nostalgia along the lines of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” or “Tennessee Christmas.” Christmas is not parochial and narrow. It’s about what God has done and is doing in the whole world. And for the whole world. As Chapman puts it, “Everywhere it’s Christmas.” In the video above, you can hear the song in its entirety as well as read the lyrics. I recommend that you do both. If you haven’t bought this album since I last wrote about it, I still highly…
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When “fake news” comes from both right and left
Albert Mohler has a really thoughtful commentary on “fake news” today. He is in large part responding to Sarah Pulliam Bailey’s piece at The Washington Post on the same subject. Bailey is lamenting the fact that too many evangelicals have too much credulity toward “fake news” and too much incredulity toward real news delivered according to real standards of journalism. Mohler is sympathetic with Pulliam Bailey on this point. He agrees that there really is a qualitative difference between mainstream outlets and other “news” sources that have no editorial accountability. But Mohler also raises the very real problem that mainstream outlets have with detecting their own ideological bias, which sometimes…