It was Tuesday, late afternoon. I had just come back from a meeting and I was walking to my office to “do some pastoring” when I was told that our Internet was down. What? The Internet, down? How can I pastor without the Internet? I sat in my chair and felt helpless. I really needed to send some emails. My Inbox was like an untended garden and needed some love. But, of course, I couldn’t do what I needed to do. So, I considered some options. Maybe I should read the Bible. That’s always a good idea but wait, can’t. My Bible is online. M ...

God uses the regular practices and habits of our lives to change us. Some of our life habits and patterns are so deeply intertwined with our identity that it is more helpful to see them as liturgies. For our purposes, I want to define liturgy as a set of deeply formative practices that mold and shape us. In other words, the liturgies of our lives are things that do not leave us unchanged. We see this fairly clearly with the liturgy we use in our Sunday worship. Each week, we engage in a collection of regular practices like confessing our ...

Living in Seattle, it’s hard to ignore the problem of homelessness. On January 27, 2012, approximately 2,600[1] people were sleeping outside in King County, ranking Seattle’s metro area as 6th in the nation in homeless population. Driving, walking, or out for jog, you will see the effects of this societal problem. Though it’s hard to ignore the problem of homelessness, we find a way. Some of us ignore it because we don’t know how to respond or because we are apathetic. Whether we are overwhelmed by the complicated nature and bigness of the ...

Like many of you, I am not satisfied with my prayer life. It’s not just that I don’t pray as much as I think I should. This is undoubtedly true. I also I don’t pray as much as I would like. I want to pray more, but often have trouble knowing where to start. So a couple of weeks ago I picked up Jerram Barrs’ book on prayer called The Heart of Prayer—What Jesus Teaches Us. For a long time, I have valued Jerram’s teaching because it is straightforward, clear and faithful to Scripture. This book is no exception. I have also found this book to ...

When you think of what the Church is and what it should aspire to be, what image comes to mind? A fortress? In the midst of a hostile environment, the church should be a place were people feel safe. Certainly, it should protect its occupants from harm. Jesus taught us to pray, “Protect us from evil” and it seems that the church can and should respond to this prayer. How about a hospital? Jesus said that he didn’t come for the righteous but for the sick. The church should not expect to be a group of moral, intellectual, or social rock ...

I agree with Oscar Wilde when he said that a sentimentalist is “one who desires to have the luxury of an emotion without paying for it.” I think this is particularly true of love. Whether you consider love a decision or an emotion or a mixture of both, we cannot truly offer and experience it without cost. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” To truly love feels like death. Sentimentality is self-centered whereas love is other-centered. Sentimentality only receives whereas love ...