I Wake and Feel The Fell Of Dark, Not Day by Gerard Manley Hopkins

I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day,
What hour, O what black hours we have spent
This night! What sights you, heart, saw; ways you went!
And more must, in yet longer light’s delay,
– With witness I speak this. But where I say
Hours I mean years, mean life. And my lament
Is cries countless, cries like [...]

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Worshiping Through the Stages of Faith

Throughout this paper I hope to focus through the lens of worship on the two ideas of (1) Spiritual development and (2) the dichotic need for both solitude and community in a healthy spiritual life. In this paper I am going to suggest that worshiping through Fowler’s stages of faith might be an effective way [...]

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A Prayer

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our
Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News
of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive
the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask [...]

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Exegesis of John 13:31-38

One only needs to read the phrase, “In the beginning was the word,” to realize that the Gospel of John approaches the story of Jesus in a manner that is truly unique. The gospel of Mark may represent the first unpolished record of the gospel message, and Luke may have finally written “an orderly account,” [...]

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Genesis 14 – The kings of Salem and Sodom

Melchizedek, the king of Salem, is a character that fascinates me. He is called a “priest of God Most High”. Melchizedek blesses Abram and blesses God. Then Abram gives Melchizedek a tenth of everything he owned. The king of Sodom then asks for the captives from a recent military campaign to [...]

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Genesis 13 – To expand or plant

Abram and Lot were so blessed by God that the land could not support both of their flocks and herds. So Abram allows Lot to pick which way he would like to go and Abram goes the opposite. God then speaks to Abram again and tells him that he will be blessed.
There are [...]

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A Prayer

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light
of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word
and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s
glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the
ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with
you and the Holy Spirit lives and [...]

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Genesis 12 – Ignorance is not bliss

“Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’”
Sometimes God speaks to us very clearly and we choose either to listen or not to listen. In Genesis 12 God spoke to Abram very clearly and Abram listened. Abram’s [...]

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Late Lament by Graeme Edge

Breathe deep the gathering gloom,
Watch lights fade from every room.
Bedsitter people look back and lament,
Another day’s useless energy spent.
Impassioned lovers wrestle as one,
Lonely man cries for love and has none.
New mother picks up and suckles her son,
Senior citizens wish they were young.
Cold hearted orb that rules the night,
Removes the colours from our sight.
Red is grey [...]

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Genesis 11 – Legacy

I have never been a fan of ultra-tall skyscrapers. It seemed like a bad idea to me to create a building that is difficult to clean and maintain, is problematic in case of fire or other emergency, and are difficult to demolish. The ultra-tall skyscraper always appeared to me to be an artifact [...]

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Genesis 10 – Another genealogy

“Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, ‘Like Nimrod, a might hunter before the Lord.’”
So the next time someone calls you a nimrod, take it as a compliment.

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Generational Transitioning

One of the greatest problems I have observed in churches has to do with the issue of generational transitioning, that is, how you transition the next generation into positions of leadership. Most churches take one of three routes in attempting this. The first is the funeral method; when someone dies his or her leadership chair [...]

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Genesis 9 – Reveling in God’s revelation

There are moments every day when God is revealing himself to us. Through the words or actions of another person. Through the beauty of creation. Through chance circumstance. Through the inward leading of the Holy Spirit. Through thought and reason. Through the example of those who have gone [...]

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Genesis 8 – When disaster strikes

“But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark”
In the flood narrative Noah is on the ark for a long time; aimlessly drifting with no land in sight. There is no where to go. There is nothing anyone or anything on the ark [...]

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A Prayer

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River
Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him
with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his
Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly
confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy
Spirit lives and reigns, one [...]

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Genesis 7 – I affect other people

Noah’s faith saved his entire family. It is important to remember that my actions affect other people. Whatever I do has implications for my wife, my children, my family, my friends, my neighbors and a myriad of other people. I’ve got nothing else for this chapter.

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Hamlet: A monologue from the play by William Shakespeare

HAMLET:
To be, or not to be–that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep–
No more–and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir [...]

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Genesis 6 – 1,518,750 cubic feet

“Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”
The obedience of Noah stands in sharp contrast to the disobedience of Adam and Eve a few chapters before. Noah was completely obedient in following God’s commands. This is not to say Noah led a perfect life; a few chapters after the flood Noah is revealed [...]

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Genesis 5 – Enoch walks

At youth group recently I was talking to my High Schoolers about the Bible. I asked the question: what is the Bible? We concluded that at the very least, the one thing everyone can agree on is, the Bible is literature (I think it’s more, but I’ll save that for another day). [...]

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