All posts by Robert Dean

Eerdmans Kindle Sale

Publisher W.B. Eerdmans is currently offering the Kindle version of many of their bestsellers for between $2 and $4.  If you don’t mind reading a book on a screen, it could be a great time to build up your library and add some titles to your COVID reading list.  Here are some of the titles on sale that I would recommend (in no particular order): Continue reading Eerdmans Kindle Sale

The Resurrection and the Groaning of Creation (Video Link)

My colleague Joshua Coutts, Assistant Professor of New Testament at Providence Theological Seminary, was invited to record an Easter message for the congregation of Fourth Avenue Bible Church in Niverville, Manitoba.  His meditation based on Romans 8:18-25 proclaims the reality of the resurrection amid our current global struggle with COVID-19.  You can view it here.

Reading Barth Together

What the church will look like after the COVID pandemic has run its course is hard to say.  Will modern society’s confrontation with its own mortality lead to genuine pursuit of deeper truth or will it lead to a doubling down on the human project of getting out of life alive?  Will social distancing cultivate a hunger for more meaningful forms of community and authentic relationships or will the move that many congregations have made to online platforms further reinforce our worst consumerist proclivities?  It is perhaps too early to tell. Continue reading Reading Barth Together

An Easter Sunday Sermon (Audio Resource)

Last Easter Sunday I had the privilege of celebrating the resurrection with the Church of Pentecost in Winnipeg.  Overseer Gabriel Addo-Asante has shared with me a recording of my sermon.  In some ways, we find ourselves, just a year later, in a much different space.  In other ways, though, it is the same world:  God’s good creation marred by Sin, held in captivity to Death, redeemed in Christ’s cross, awaiting the final revelation of the children of God.

 

“What in the World Is Going on Today”: A Holy Saturday Reflection

My friend Paul Johansen has been sharing daily devotionals with the congregation of Good Shepherd Community Church in Scarborough, ON during this Lenten season of social distancing.  He’s given me permission to share his reflection for Holy Saturday. Continue reading “What in the World Is Going on Today”: A Holy Saturday Reflection

A Good Friday Sermon (Audio Resource)

The social distancing measures that have been prescribed in the attempt to “flatten the curve” of the Coronavirus pandemic, have resulted in the unprecedented (in our lifetime) necessity of celebrating the events of Holy Week and the season of Easter in relative isolation in our homes.

In the attempt to encourage the faithful, and also recognizing that many people now have additional time on their hands, I will be aiming to make available some audio and video of previously recorded sermons and lectures.

Last summer, one of my Good Friday sermons, “The Death of an Extremist” appeared in the journal Theodidaktos published by the Evangelical Mennonite Conference.  I was able to track down an audio recording of the service in which the sermon was preached at Good Shepherd Community Church in Scarborough, ON in 2009.