This is the promise John the Baptist makes in the opening chapter of Mark’s Gospel. Mark doesn’t begin with the story of Jesus’ birth. Rather, he jumps into the middle of the story with Jesus already as an adult, ready to begin his ministry. This is the urgency in Mark: The Messiah has come.
Crossroads: The Shepherd
May 1, 2023 by
“Don’t talk to strangers.” It’s what my mother told me all the time growing up, and I’m sure it’s what you tell your own children. Strangers aren’t safe because you don’t know them.
Death and Life
October 26, 2022 by
We lose so many good people. When Jesus finally arrives at his friends’ home, Lazarus has been dead for four days.
Crossroads: Recognizing Jesus
May 2, 2022 by
Talk about a time when you were surprised by a friend/relative who you didn’t recognize initially, but who recognized you. Was it a time when you got lost and that person found you?
Crossroads: Seeing Is Believing
April 25, 2022 by
Has something ever seemed too good to be true? Was it? Talk about a time when you didn’t believe something someone said until they showed you proof. Why didn’t you believe? Did the proof change your thinking?
Now I Know How John the Baptist Felt
February 15, 2022 by
My curiosity grew as Friday approached, then arrived. “Hello, Harold,” I greeted my octogenarian guest. C’mon in. Please have a seat.”
Crossroads: Why We Baptize
January 10, 2022 by
I have loved Jesus for practically my whole life. I grew up in church, and we were there pretty much every time the church was open. At seven years old, I told Jesus that I wanted him to be my Savior and I was baptized.
Meditations on Luke: Our Given Identities
December 7, 2021 by
When my wife was pregnant with each of our daughters, we felt a degree of stress in coming up with names for them. For one thing, we didn’t want to offend anyone in our families of origin. Use names from only one side of the family and you may alienate folks on the other.
Crossroads: Friends
May 10, 2021 by
I was at school when I got the call that she was gone, and a friend of mine found me crying in the hallway. He comforted me and then we went our separate ways.
Connections 05.16.2021: Learning from Experience
May 9, 2021 by
The writer of 1 John talks a lot about what we know. For example, he says, “By this we know that we abide in [God] and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (4:13).
Crossroads: Staying Connected
May 3, 2021 by
I have always loved wisteria. I know that it’s a parasite, but it has always been beautiful to me. One of my favorite parts of driving to my grandparents’ house as a kid was driving past the beautiful wisteria growing in a patch of trees.
Crossroads: Compassion
April 25, 2021 by
How do you show compassion for others? Did you help others when you were a child, or is it something you have started recently?
Crossroads: A Blank Slate
April 19, 2021 by
It’s no secret that I loved school as a child. One of my favorite parts about going back to school was buying school supplies. Even if I had pens and pencils at home, I wanted new ones for school.
Crossroads: I Doubt It
April 12, 2021 by
When I was a child, we always played a game called “I doubt it” when we went on vacation. It was a card game and the point was to be the person who got rid of all of their cards first.
Formations 06.21.2020: The Family of God
June 14, 2020 by
The scene with Jesus’ mother and the Beloved Disciple at the cross is unique to the Fourth Gospel. In the Synoptic Gospels, however, there’s another story with a similar them.
Formations 06.14.2020: At Jesus’ Side
June 7, 2020 by
Biblical scholars debate the identity of the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23). Tradition identifies him as John son of Zebedee, but the Gospel of John itself is more tight-lipped.
Formations 06.07.2020: Come and See!
May 31, 2020 by
Who are your favorite celebrities? What draws you to them? How do you think you would react if you got to meet them in person?
Connections 12.15.2019: Orientation
December 8, 2019 by
Picture John the Baptist, leaning against a prison wall. For many months, he has worked tirelessly, pleading with people to repent and prepare for the One who is to come.
Connections 12.08.2019: Privilege
December 1, 2019 by
Advent is a good time to consider our privilege and what we need to do about it. This week’s lesson text features John the Baptist.
Formations 09.22.2019: Right Beliefs and Right Actions
September 15, 2019 by
Near the beginning of the first Iron Man movie, arms manufacturer Tony Stark addresses a gathering of military brass as he demonstrates a new missile system. He ponders whether it is better to be feared or respected before finally asking, “Is it too much to ask for both?”
Formations 09.01.2019: “It Wasn’t My Fault!”
August 25, 2019 by
If you struggle to own up to your mistakes, psychological studies indicate you are not alone. Researchers with PsychTests recently analyzed data from over 4,700 people who took their Self-Esteem Test and compared two groups.
Formations 06.09.2019: “I Will Send the Spirit”
June 2, 2019 by
In the 1992 song “Anthem,” Leonard Cohen offered these now classic words: “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” The insight comes lyrically through the acknowledgment of liminal spaces—birdsong in the morning or peacetime between war.
Connections 01.13.2019: Humility
January 6, 2019 by
John the Baptist was a celebrity. He had all the right factors to create interest and even obsession among the people who had encountered him or even just heard of him. Young. Strong. Eccentric. Intriguing. Tantalizing.
Connections 12.09.2018: Advent Fussing
December 2, 2018 by
It was 1977. I was a college student, and I’d been invited to preach at my home church on a Sunday night. As I walked in the front door, I encountered my first cousin’s husband. The following conversation took place.
Connections 08.05.2018: The Best Bread
July 29, 2018 by
My childhood friend Cal and I spent a lot of time at each other’s houses. That meant we often ate lunch at each other’s houses too. The only thing I remember about eating at his house was that they had Tang, which I thought was cool because (a) astronauts drank it (according to the commercials—Tang commercials, not NASA ones) and (b) we didn’t have it at our house.
Connections 05.06.2018: Love One Another
April 29, 2018 by
“Love one another” (Jn 15:17b). Is there a greater calling in Scripture than this? Is there a harder one? It is often paired with what Jesus called the Greatest Commandment, “Love God with all your being.”
Connections 02.18.2018: Making His Paths Crooked
February 11, 2018 by
I have a thirty-minute drive from Yatesville to Macon every morning and a thirty-minute drive from Macon to Yatesville every afternoon. My route takes me through the countryside, so it’s a pleasant journey. The only problem is that I travel east in the morning and west in the afternoon, so I’m always driving toward the sun.
Connections 12.17.2017: The Light of Christ
December 10, 2017 by
At this time of year, we marvel at the beauty of Christmas lights. Our family enjoys getting a special treat and riding through our town, admiring neighborhood light displays while we listen to Christmas music. We love to decorate our own house as well.
Connections 12.10.2017: What Would John the Baptist Say?
December 3, 2017 by
The other morning I got out of bed before my wife did. When she came into the den a few minutes later, she found me eating my oatmeal and watching the CBS Morning News. The first thing she said was, “Good morning!” The second thing she said was, “Has there been another one yet today?”
Connections 11.12.2017: Give It Some Thought
November 5, 2017 by
The story in this week’s Scripture passage reminds me of a part of the John the Baptist story. It’s the scene where “many Pharisees and Sadducees” come to John to be baptized. He doesn’t exactly affirm their decision. “You brood of vipers!” he yells. “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Mt 3:7).
God Only Makes What God Loves
July 4, 2017 by
Most of us struggle to believe that God fully loves us (and others) since we do not measure up to God’s law. We hear the constant refrain of “I am not good enough.” Or we wrestle with the “woulda’, coulda’, shoulda’s” of our lives. “God loves us, warts and all,” we say, but that theology falls short.
Formations 04.30.2017: Casting Anyway
April 23, 2017 by
The boat is empty and Jesus, though resurrected, is gone. I expect the absence, of both Jesus and fish, was new for the disciples. I would be surprised if they didn’t go into the night expecting to catch fish, dreaming about their haul. Though they might acknowledge the luck involved, it’s their job to outmaneuver chance and fill their nets.
Formations 04.23.2017: Sitting a While with Thomas
April 16, 2017 by
According to a new survey, fully one-fourth of British people who identify themselves as Christian say they do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Hobson urges a certain degree of restraint in our responses to such people. After all, our universal human experience is that dead people stay dead. To say otherwise flies in the face of all that we know about how the world works.
Connections 04.23.2017: Four Things to Remember in John
April 16, 2017 by
For me, this passage contains some of the most moving and powerful moments in John’s entire Gospel. There are four specific things I love about it.
Formations 04.16.2017: In Graves and Gardens
April 9, 2017 by
As I’ve been asking who needs to hear my story of Easter joy, I’ve come up against another question—what story of Easter joy do I need to hear? And what I hear reminds me of a ghost story I first heard as a seventh grader.
Formations 04.09.2017: Jesus’ Death Foreshadowed
April 2, 2017 by
Jesus enters Jerusalem amid cheering crowds inspired by hope in “the one who comes in the name of the Lord” (v. 13). They came out to meet Jesus because they had heard about the raising of Lazarus (vv. 17-18). Ironically, it was this same sign that led to Jesus’ death.
Formations 04.02.2017: Smells and Resurrection
March 26, 2017 by
How much is the experience of Lazarus’s death present in his resuscitated life? How does acknowledging his death change her memories of his life? What would Lazarus’s death mean for the life he returned to just after?
Formations 03.19.2017: Light and Dark
March 12, 2017 by
I have a friend who cites learning to use the conjunction and more than or as the high point of his education. Conjunctions reflect the way we make sense of information. They allow us to show cause, to distinguish, to divide, to connect.
Connections 01.08.2017: Going Under
January 1, 2017 by
I was watching a made-for-television film about Jesus. In its depiction of Jesus’ baptism, he joined John in the Jordan River. As they stood in the river, which came up to their waists, John poured water over Jesus’ head.
Connections 12.18.2016: Father of the Forerunner
December 11, 2016 by
Two weeks ago, I encouraged us to put ourselves in Mary’s shoes—to truly feel empathy for her when she heard the news that was both devastating and life changing. Can we do some imagining about Zechariah, too?
Formations 12.11.2016: Even in this Place?
December 4, 2016 by
John the Baptist heard the train coming before anyone else, but today he’s in prison. By the river he proclaimed, “Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” (Matt 3:2). Now he sends some of his disciples to find out if he got it wrong, if they should start looking for someone else.
Formations 12.04.2016: Pace Yourself
November 27, 2016 by
I was late coming to Advent. The church of my childhood and youth never observed a season of preparation leading to Christmas day. We were left, then, to “get ready for Christmas” the same way secular people did.
Formations 11.13.2016: Sing in Time
November 6, 2016 by
When I walk into a new sanctuary, I find a pew, pull out the hymnal, and look through it. I see if anyone’s names have been embossed on the lower right corner. I check to see how the church decided to phrase the words on the bookplate dedicating its use to the Lord’s worship.
Formations 10.30.2016: Start Again
October 23, 2016 by
Harvey Thomas Young, a musician from Austin, Texas, wrote a song called “Start Again.” First a poem written on the back of a postcard to his brother in jail, his manager saw it and requested he set the poem to music.
Formations 06.26.2016: Mary Magdalene and the Gardener
June 19, 2016 by
Halfway through drafting this post, I realized I was guilty of oversimplification in order to find a moral in this story. I hadn’t determined if I would praise Mary for recognizing Jesus’ resurrection or chide her for missing it at first.
Formations 06.05.2016: All You Have to Change Is Everything You Are
May 29, 2016 by
Why are so many celebrities willing to sacrifice who they are in order to achieve success and fame? Jan Aitken, a life coach based in Dunedin, New Zealand, recently pondered this question after watching a documentary about Janis Joplin, a stellar blues singer.
Crossroads: He Is Risen!
March 28, 2016 by
He is risen! He is risen indeed! Easter is such a wonderful time. The dark, somber mourning of Good Friday has passed and in its place is new life, lots of color, and thankful spirits.
Connections 01.31.2016: When Death Comes
January 24, 2016 by
Death came into my life during the night when I was around ten years old, taking with it a beautiful white dog named Princess. A few more dogs followed over the years, one of which I raised from a tiny puppy.