Dust (a Lenten Sonnet)

Dust--thinking, speaking, acting

Dust; mortal, fallen, failing

Dust; lost, lonely, repulsive

Dust; weak, depraved, explosive

Dust; listless, broken, heaving

Dust; dying, decayed, reeking

Dust; spent, aimless, wavering

Dust; rent, carnal, wandering

Dust; image-bearing, holy

Dust; called and redeemed, sacred

Dust; 'Manuel, God became

Dust to save and glorify

Dust; resurrected, renewed

Dust; purchased, and yet, still dust.

Comments

"Father, Forgive Them"

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Forgiveness is hard. Forgiveness is really, really hard. It’s difficult to forgive others who have genuinely harmed or offended us. It’s easy to say , “I forgive you,” but it’s extremely difficult to feel it–to make peace in our hearts with the injustices that others have perpetrated against us. It just doesn’t feel right. Sin should be punished! Wrongs should be righted! Right?! It’s difficult to forgive others when they ask for it. It’s even more difficult to forgive them when they haven’t asked for it–when they don’t even recognize what they’ve done to hurt us. As our Savior hung upon His Cross, He asked the Father to forgive those nearby–those who were unwittingly contributing to the greatest injustice in the history of the world. These thieves, soldiers, and standers-by had no idea what was happening. They had no idea that the jealousy of the Jews had placed Christ on that Cross...

5 Reasons I Want my Wife to Start Wearing a Head Covering during Corporate Worship

Of late, the issue of head coverings has come up in my circle. Okay...my cousin and I have been discussing it, but the point is, the issue has been bouncing around my head for the past few days. It is a topic that I have avoided for some time. Every time I read through 1 Corinthians, I would tell myself, "We'll get around to that." The reality is that I didn't want to be "that guy"...that guy who people view as a chauvinistic jerk who wants to make sure everyone--especially his wife--remembers that he's the head of his home. I think I'm beginning to respect "that guy"--those men who have cared enough to stand for what they believe. Let me be clear that I am referring to head coverings for women (those old enough to leave them on...) DURING CORPORATE WORSHIP. I am not advocating head coverings at all times. Though I see nothing necessarily wrong that practice, I don't see any command for it either. ...

Paedocommunion: Consistent Covenantalism or Anti-Confessionalism?

Being raised as a paedocommunionist (that means our kids get to eat Jesus, too), I have always been amazed by how passionately credocommunionists (that means their kids don't get to eat Jesus until they articulate a "credible" profession of faith) dislike the practice. I would think that they could look at paedocommunion and at least respect it as an attempt to live out Covenant Theology in a consistent way. Instead, paedocommunionists have been widely viewed as being on the fringe of the fringe (yes, that far) of Reformed Theology. I like to think that I have been able to agree-to-disagree in an amicable way with my credocommunionist friends. However, I will admit that being discounted as "unconfessional" (trust me, I've been called worse) has made many paedocommunionists (you'd have to ask my friends whether or not that applies to me) act in a manner that lacks Christian grace. So, the question remains, is paedocommunion a view hel...

Always Reforming

Search This Blog