Every Advent season, it is good to remember the prominence of women in the lineage of Jesus. Listed among his ancestors in Matthew 1 and Luke 3, we see names such as Tamar (a victim of sexual misconduct), Rahab (a prostitute whose famous lie landed her in the faith hall of fame), Bathsheba (described as […]

While being “the most wonderful time of the year” for some, the holidays can be lonely, alienating, and isolating for others. Loneliness, alienation, and isolation often come from struggles related to family. Many of us have at least one “Cousin Eddie” situation that confronts us during the holidays, and that tempts us to look at our […]

God’s intention is to restore believers in Christ and turn them into new people. “If anyone is in Christ,” the Scripture says, “he is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come.” As Christians, it is our job to cooperate with this “new creation” vision for our lives. Our motivation for […]

In the world of ministry and ministers, and also Christians in general, there can be a love/hate relationship with theology. On the one hand, we love theology because it gives us an ordered, systematic, and storied picture of the sixty-six books of the Bible. We might say that theology packages the Bible—which can feel daunting […]