In the creation story, God creates day and night. It is during the day when our lives are lived and work is done, and in the night where we rest in our homes. Even in non-Christian cultures, being indoors during the day is considered eccentric, while being out and about at night is suspect. And […]

The prayer of David is that not only his spoken words would be acceptable to the Lord, but also the meditation of his heart. He has spent the previous verses of Psalm 19 declaring God’s clarity when he speaks, even when he doesn’t use words. In the same way, David asks that he not be […]

What burns within you? What is that thing that sometimes swells and fills and overflows from a deep part of you? From the parts of our hearts that have not yet heard the gospel, these are self-centered and sometimes shameful things that come forth. And yet Jeremiah reckoned with this brimming, saying that there was […]

God’s response to his people in distress (v.19) is to send out his word, being sufficient to do the work of healing and deliverance, and to instill praise in the heart of the saved. Most of us would agree that God’s word is authoritative, but do we believe that it is sufficient? When in distress […]

What’s the one thing that … It is a question asked in various ways throughout our lives. Without too much effort, it quickly goes to what lies at core of your soul. My children. A chance to do it again. Love. If I knew it would be all right. To be free from it. When […]

Apart from Jesus Christ, we cannot know God. John reminds us that Jesus is God (1:1-3). Because of the cross of Christ, we now have access to the Father where before we were separated by sin. If not for Jesus, God would be unknowable. When we gather together as God’s people, Jesus is our focus. […]

From the beginning, God has provided for us as his church, renewing the Advent’s work and witness in this city, and far beyond. As our past belongs to the Lord, so too our future; for whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord. His work is completed, and so he sits […]

What is it to worship? Can we say there is something called “false worship”? Jesus makes an announcement that with him comes something very new and very present: true worshipers will worship God in spirit and truth. What does this mean? Among whatever else, is elevates the proclamation of Jesus’ very present work as the […]

The Old Testament understanding was that God’s presence was centrally located in the Temple. There were manifestations of God’s presence outside of the Temple, but they seem to be exceptional. Today, when we read from the Bible the invitation to “enter his courts with praise,” or about the “House of the Lord,” let’s not equate […]

Most of the words we use concerning worship in the Bible either regard temple worship or heavenly worship. Otherwise, “worship words” are used figuratively. In a word, the vocabulary pertaining to temple worship is not translatable to our Sunday gatherings. One often hears talk about church being worship, our buildings being sanctuaries, and the Lord’s […]