life (519)

Ian

Worship Even Here

Psalm 20; Numbers 9:15–23; Revelation 4:1–8 Trusting God is hard. Trusting that all things work for good is hard. How can COVID be good? How can a bad economy be good? How can not being able to be with our loved ones be good? A…

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Ian

Unity of Three

Isaiah 6:1–8; Psalm 29; Romans 8:12–17; John 3:1–17 In the current age, the concept of the Trinity has been attempted to be explained by books such as “The Shack” (which acknowledges itself as an allegory and not as doctrine, a key response to those who…

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Ian

Utopia Maybe

Psalm 29; Isaiah 2:1–5; Romans 8:9–11 The statistics don’t seem promising. The percentage of regular church-goers has been falling generation by generation for the last four generations. While the percentage of Americans that say they are Christian is high (relatively), a very high percentage of…

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Ian

Just Breathe

Psalm 104:24–34; Ezekiel 37:1–14; John 20:19–23 In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, there is a simple practice performed by many, where they say, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God…” while breathing in and then “…have mercy on me, a sinner," while exhaling. The Jesus Prayer (as…

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Ian

Little Pieces Together

Psalm 104:24–35; Joel 2:18–29; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11 Before churches had stained glass, there were two ways the church would decorate and—more importantly—tell the stories of the Bible (and the church) in pictures. The first was primarily on the wall and ceilings, and that was paintings.

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