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Born to Shop

DECEMBER 2008: ESSAY by Todd Steen and Steve VanderVeen Introduction "Born to shop." This is the credo of our consumer culture. According to the world, shopping is all about making ourselves feel good, and fulfilling ourselves through obtaining possessions. By default, without thinking about it, we take a humanistic perspective and try to satisfy our ultimate need for meaning by focusing on ourselves. Instead of remembering how scripture defines us, we let the marketing world define us. In a world…
Todd Steen and Steve VanderVeen
December 16, 2008
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First Drown, Then Live

DECEMBER 2008: ADVENT SERMON by John Timmer "At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan." --Mark 1:9 Every good story has a secret--a secret that evokes our curiosity, that keeps us turning the pages. Sometimes the storyteller lets us know the secret at the end of the story. Mystery writers keep us in suspense until the final chapter where we learn who strangled Thomas Carvey, or who poisoned Laura Tilson, or…
John Timmer
December 16, 2008
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Misquoting Jesus

DECEMBER 2008: REVIEW Misquoting Jesus by David Timmer The title of this book is misleadingly provocative, conjuring up images of ecclesiastical skullduggery á la Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. But Ehrman, who in fact wrote one of the better books debunking Brown, actually has a much more modest and conventional aim in this book: to introduce the textual criticism of the New Testament--that is, the scholarly endeavor to determine the original text of the New Testament writings. This involves…
David Timmer
December 16, 2008
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The Way

DECEMBER 2008: REVIEW by Jackie L. Smallbones The Jesus Way is the third in a series of four books by Eugene Peterson on conversations about authentic Christian spirituality, this one on "the ways we go about following Jesus, the Way" (1). He is concerned that so many who claim to be followers of Jesus get it wrong and "without hesitation, and apparently without thinking, embrace the ways and means of the culture" (1). His purpose, therefore, is "to explore the…
Jackie L. Smallbones
December 16, 2008
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The Promise of Baptism

DECEMBER 2008: REVIEW by J. Todd Billings What does it mean to be Reformed in our current American context? In a land where the needs of consumers make the market run, what would it mean to base our faith around God as the central actor in salvation? How should Reformed pastors minister to congregations that have little orientation to the Reformed tradition? These are key questions for the Reformed tradition in America today. Christian messages pulsate on the airwaves and…
J. Todd Billings
December 16, 2008
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The Desert

DECEMBER 2008: INSIDE OUT by Scott Hoezee In the desert prepare the way for the LORD. Isaiah 40:3a My neighbor did it again. The weekend after Thanksgiving I saw my neighbor across the street scurrying around his yard, using a large ladder to access also the upper reaches of the three trees in his front yard. Once the sun set that evening, the reason behind his busy work was revealed as the trees in his yard were lit up by…
December 16, 2008
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A True Story Happening Now

Maria N. Rodriguez de Vásquez It is Saturday, a beautiful early summer evening. Ruth is in the kitchen preparing spaghetti for her children, her husband Danilo is at church at a prayer group meeting, and the children are sitting and talking at the table while waiting for their food to be ready. Laughter fills the house that has witnessed all the joys, blessings, and sickness of this typical family. A setting for disaster. This is the end point of what…
María N. Rodríguez de Vásquez
November 15, 2008
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Dylan Thomas: Getting One Big Thing Right

NOVEMBER 2008: ESSAY by Robert Lowes I don't like walking around by myself in dark buildings late at night, but there I was in my church's basement at 9 p.m., lugging sacks of loaves and pastries that a restaurant had donated to our food pantry. A harsh solitary light revealed the leftovers of a rummage sale we had held to benefit another of our ministries, a homeless shelter. Books, clothes, toys, and what-have-you were bagged, boxed, and awaiting delivery to…
Robert Lowes
November 15, 2008
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On Being the Church in the World

NOVEMBER 2008: ESSAY by Eugene Roberts While I am not a disciple of Abraham Kuyper, the discussion generated by Steve Mathonnet-Vander well ("Reformed Intramurals," February 2008) and the responses of John Bolt and Jeffrey Sajdak ("A Kuyperian Reflects on Father Abraham" and "The Fourth Act," June-July 2008) did nudge my thinking. I share Mathonnet-VanderWell's disappointment that Bolt's response demonstrated little theological engagement, and I agree that if we Christians are not "overtly theological" in our relationship with the larger community,…
Eugene E. Roberts
November 15, 2008