In Mark's telling of Jesus being baptised (Mark 1:4-11), John told his disciples that he baptises with water but the messiah will baptise with the Holy Spirit. Baptism with water is an ancient tradition, it didn’t begin with John and it is certainly not reserved for Christianity. The practice of baptism in many pagan religions … Continue reading Every Christian Should be a Pickle: The True Meaning of Baptism
Today is the feast of Epiphany in the church calendar. The day when we celebrate those three wise men who came to visit Jesus and bring him gifts. The word epiphany itself comes from ancient Greek times. Before it was used to describe the moment of Christ’s being revealed to the world it was used … Continue reading Mystery in the Stars: The Story of Epiphany
So today I would like for us to talk about Jesus as the fulfillment of Jewish law. It’s a core theological concept in Christianity and one that does not have a standard agreed upon definition. The word fulfillment itself means to complete something - to make it full and finished. Many people have many … Continue reading The Fulfillment of the Law
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. Dear … Continue reading When Love was born: The Christmas Story
We have a lot of ideas about what constitutes a traditional Christmas, but we often fail to realize that Christmas traditions have changed a lot since the first one in Bethlehem 2018 years ago. The first recorded Christmas celebrations took place in the 4th century and we don’t know a whole lot about them other … Continue reading A Traditional Christmas is Not What You Think
Mary heard it, and so did Hannah. Both these incredibly important and prophetic women knew what God was really about and both understood the importance of praising the Lord in song.
My son Quillan and I had a conversation while laying in bed on a lazy Saturday morning. We were talking about what it means to be a theologian. I told him that he is a theologian because he likes to talk about God. I pray you are a theologian too. Theology, quite literally, means talking … Continue reading Some Advice Every Theologian Needs to Hear
Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? … Continue reading Was John the Baptist Elijah?
To continue from Part 1 of this series we will look at how Christianity adapted and changed after becoming fully entrenched in Roman society. Christianity did not only inherit and adopt the economic and political forms of the Roman empire but also the philosophical ones. The Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle had an undeniably … Continue reading Who do we say God is? Part 2
When Pilate was confronting Jesus, Jesus told him that he had come into the world to testify to the truth and Pilate responded with the very question we are still wrestling with today. What is truth?
