This past Sunday many congregations marked the end of the Christian year by celebrating Christ the King Sunday. The Feast of Christ the King is a relatively recent addition to the Christian calendar. It was established as a festal celebration by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and has, in the years that have followed, also begun to be celebrated by many Protestant denominations and congregations. There is a certain fittingness to the Christian calendar ending with the proclamation, “Christ is King!” Not only does this resonate with the shape of the biblical narrative itself, it also provides an obvious segue into the season of Advent, where we await the coming of the King. As I was preparing for worship this past week, I came across a prayer I wrote for worship on Christ the King Sunday back in 2008 that seems like it might also be of use for us today. Continue reading A Prayer for Christ the King Sunday
Monthly Archives: November 2016
“It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Audio Series (Part 5)
In this, the fifth and final, part of my lecture “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Paul, the Kingdom, and Living between the Times, I discuss the contagious faithfulness of Jesus which, as it is transmitted by the Holy Spirit, calls into existence a community of resistance to the regime of Sin and Death. This section contains some of the most obvious connections to the conference keynote addresses by David Fitch and his new book Faithful Presence. Continue reading “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Audio Series (Part 5)
“It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Audio Series (Part 4)
In Part 4 of my lecture “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Paul, the Kingdom, and Living between the Times, I continue to explore the plight of humanity in bondage. Standing behind the fallen principalities and powers are the cosmic slaveholders Sin and Death. Under the reign of Sin and Death, the powers often compete with one another seeking to enlist human beings and demanding that they sacrifice themselves and one another for the sake of ensuring the survival of the principality. Human beings are taken in by the various deceptive tactics of the powers and find themselves developing a type of perverse love or allegiance for the very forces that seek to hold them in bondage. For human beings in such a predicament, help can only come into the system from above. Continue reading “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Audio Series (Part 4)
“It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Audio Series (Part 3)
In the previous section of my lecture, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Paul, the Kingdom, and Living between the Times, I argued that the Gospel is the story of the God of Israel who is on mission to save the world that he has created and that he loves. This is apparent in Galatians 4:4-5, where Paul writes, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children” (NRSV). This motif of a redemptive mission or liberating invasion suggests that humanity is, in some sense, in captivity. Continue reading “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Audio Series (Part 3)
“It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Audio Series (Part 2)
Below you’ll find the audio for the second part of my presentation – “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Paul, the Kingdom and Living between the Times – from the Kingdom Come conference held at Bayview Glen Alliance Church this past weekend. Having discussed the riddle of the apparent absence of the kingdom in Paul’s writings in the first part of the talk, in this section of the presentation I begin to consider the eschatological outlook at the heart of Paul’s theology. Continue reading “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Audio Series (Part 2)
“It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Audio Series (Part 1)
I had the privilege of participating this past weekend in a conference entitled, “Kingdom Come: Awakening to a Gospel-centred Life” at Bayview Glen Alliance Church in Toronto. Seeing so many people of varying ages and from all walks of life who were willing to give up a significant part of their weekend to reflect more seriously on what it means to live as God’s people today was itself a wonderful expression of the reality of the Kingdom. Noted pastor, theologian and author David Fitch challenged us over the course of three presentations to reflect more deeply on the questions: “What is the Gospel?” “When is the Kingdom?” and “How does the Kingdom Come?” Continue reading “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”: Audio Series (Part 1)