Everybody wants a piece of the cross. One of those travel guys on TV visited a museum in Europe that was filled with religious relics. There was a tooth supposedly from John the Baptist, a piece of the tablecloth claimed to be from the Last Supper and a piece of wood allegedly taken from the actual cross of Jesus. Local…
A few years ago on a Wednesday night, our gospel choir was practicing for Sunday. The song was all about the blood of Jesus. Suddenly in the middle of practice, out of nowhere, the thought came: He’s gonna try to stop it. I felt in my heart that the enemy would try to stop us from singing this song on…
Christmas celebrates the whole idea of the incarnation, when “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). God the Son was incarnated as (became flesh as) Jesus of Nazareth. The incarnation is a one-time-only event in history. I was surprised to read a writer giving this play on that verse from John: “The Word must continue…
We are saved by the blood of the Lamb/blood of Jesus. But that concept is a problem if you’re trying to mix all the world religions. Some time ago I saw a TV special about the importance of music in world faiths. (This was an episode of the Global Spirit series, titled “Sound of the Soul.”) The subtle message was…
Apparently Charles Wesley wrote this hymn (with 19 verses!) to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his conversion. And that event is reflected in the words: “On this glad day the glorious Sun / Of Righteousness arose . . .” But when we sang this one day, I was struck by another verse: “He breaks the power of canceled sin, /…