Deus Misereatur

Here is the prayer for Independence Day from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Independence Day. [July 4.] The Collect. O ETERNAL God , through whose mighty power our fathers won their liberties of old; Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. I like this particular version of the prayer far better than the slightly embellished one found in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer {**see the end of this post}. It's short, thoughtful, and too the point. Notice how the prayer breaks down. The Attribution: First, the God from whom our forbearers gained strength to win their liberties is not some fleeting, momentary divinity, but the eternal, unending, indestructible God. Next, our liberties are attributed to this God's active, powerful providential involvement, "through whose almighty powers our fathers won their liberties of old". The Petit...

Fahrenheit 451 , written by Ray Bradbury, is another work in the long line of Dystopian fictions. It was published in 1951, and the feel of the Cold War is still evident, especially at the end of the story. But much that it pictures and describes feels very up-to-date. Wall-sized TVs on every side of the living-room ear buds cranking out music day and night, rush and hurry everywhere, elevation of entertainment - even real life-and-death moments being displayed on the big screen TVs for entertainment purposes (sounds like The Hunger Games), etc. A seminal statement in the book is the scene where Captain Beatty is explaining to Guy Montag, the reason for the demise of books, and what is the purpose of life: "There you have it, Montag. It didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God. Today, thanks to them, you can stay happy all the...

I was blown off my feet this evening. A mother of a young girl sent me this email: "I just downloaded your Ruth series, per" our daughter's "request, for her to listen to at night while going to sleep." Also "we listened to the one on Tragedy over the weekend. I was amening all the way through. ( . . . ) Job is such an encouraging book when looked at from the right perspective." Wow! I'm floored!!! You can find the "Tragedy" sermon here: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=52813103185 The Ruth Series is here: Naomi - http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=422131139331 Ruth - http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=429131215591 Boaz - http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=56131139591 Yahweh - http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=513131048180

Recently, Huffpost Gay Voices (Posted 06/06/2013 and updated on 06/07/2013), relayed that three scholars had written an Op-Ed piece in the Des Moines Register, where they denied that the Bible mandates monogamy (you can find the HuffPost piece here ). The authors, Hector Avalos, Robert Cargill and Kenneth Atkinson, are teachers at three Iowa universities, Iowa State University, University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa. If the Huffpost piece is accurate in its reporting, then it appears that these scholars come at the Bible with a priori suppositions that are, at the worst, hostile to the Bible, and at the least, simply taking the Bible as disparate, independent works that are stitched together; that the authors are approaching the Bible with the flatness of a flagrant fundamentalist, ignorant of style, genre, and literary variety, as well as social environment. In other words, the Huffpost writer is processing and promoting the Avalos-Cargill-Atkinson Op-Ed piece throu...

The English Sabbath: A Study of Doctrine and Discipline from theReformation to the Civil War Kenneth L. Parker Cambridge University Press Publication Date: 1988; Online Publication Date: 2009 Online ISBN: 9780511555305 Hardback ISBN: 9780521305358 Paperback ISBN: 9780521526562 Reviewed by Rev. Dr. Michael Philliber for Deus Misereatur Sleuthing Sabbath Study – 5 Stars out of 5 Normally, when the notion of “Sabbath” is mentioned in modern North American Christian circles, the listeners guffaw and mumble something about, “We’re no longer under the Law, but under grace”, and slough off any further thought of the subject. In more theologically Calvinistic and Reformed circles, though, folks respond with anything from annoyance to joyful interest. It is here, inside the boundaries of this Calvinistic and Reformed neighborhood, that civil, and not always so civil, discussions are surfacing. For those who have taken up this conversation and desire to say something meani...

Jesus told us, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14.12-13). --- Lord God of Hosts, the whole earth is filled with your glory; for the welfare of your people in this country and throughout the world, and for the good of all, we beg you to restrain the brutality and viciousness slinking around or running rampant in the nations; arm the leaders with the tools, desire and ability to establish, keep and enforce real justice and integrity, that all people may enjoy tranquility, prosperity, health and life. Lord, hear our prayer. Mighty God, thank you for the first responders who have poured themselves in to Tornado rescue and recovery; as well as the tons of volunteers who have involved themselves with food and water distribution, aid, clean-up and the numerous other hel...

I was recently huddled in a discussion group with other ministers, and – no surprise – we began talking about preaching. The conversation narrowed itself down to the way we preach each Sunday. There were some great sentiments voiced and out-loud-thinking presented, but there was also an uncertainty with regard to expositional preaching (where you preach through a passage, and deal with its content). Some of the guys started rummaging around for biblical examples or standard patterns for preaching. This got me to thinking: is there any evidence in Scripture for what we call expositional preaching? I quickly noticed that the few specific sermons recorded in Acts are predominately outside-of-church sermons. They are presentations of the Gospel in open-air (Acts 2 and 4), synagogues (Acts 13), amphitheaters (Acts 18) and courtrooms (Acts 22 and 26). The only episode we have that depicts inside-the-church preaching is Acts 20.7, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered tog...