Posts

Fixed Hour Prayer

The discipline I chose to practice this week is sometimes referred to as divine hours, the divine office, daily office or fixed hour prayer. It has grown out of the tradition of the Benedictine monastic order and originally had nine different times of prayer. It is now down to seven in most orders and many lay people pray anywhere from three to four. My practice this week has been morning prayer, noon prayer and then evening prayer or vespers. This is a short explanation from the website Explore Faith. People have prayed at fixed hours during the day for centuries. Quietly easing away from the obligations of home or work, they take a few moments to spend time with God. These moments connect them to the Divine, and to the countless others who are also pausing to pray the prayers designated for that hour, on that day. Prayers whispered and chanted, spoken loud and clear or murmured silently within, all join together in a continuous flow, a river

God and sanctification

This post was written in response to several questions posed by my Principles of Theology professor. Those questions are: What role does God play in our sanctification? What responsibility do we have? In what ways will you intentionally foster the development of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5) and holiness in your own life in the coming days? My response is below. What do you think? ****************************** God’s role in sanctification is that he does the work. We can do nothing to make ourselves sanctified or holy. God works and we cooperate. Grudem states, “sanctification is primarily a work of God…” [1] The Father disciplines us (see Heb 12:5-11). Christ is “our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor1:30) because he earned this for us. He is also our example, “pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2). The Holy Spirit has the major role in the sanctification of

A look at theology

I thought I'd share some posts from my courses at Regent. This was in response to the question of if we were to write a systematic theology book, what would be essential doctrines. Below is my response. In the West, we love to recreate the wheel. In the “three ecumenical creeds,” [1] we have a thorough systematic theology. The most concise being the Apostles’ Creed, followed by the Nicene Creed which fleshes out the Apostles’ Creed and lastly the Athanasian Creed, which gives a detailed defense of the doctrine of the trinity. Focusing on the Apostles’ Creed, it can be divided into three sections: the first concerning God the Father and his role as creator. The second article concerns God the Son and his role as redeemer. The third article is on the Holy Spirit and being made holy. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism provides a simple explanation of each article of the creed. The Small Catechism was written for the teaching o

wisdom, revelation and enlightenment

My next few posts are going to be on the following passage. I have been meditating on this for a number of days. It is quite rich. For my own devotions, I have broken this passage down by sections/ideas and have concentrated on each. Ephesians 1:17-19 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened , you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe , according to the working of his great power. First, God bookends this passage. he is at the beginning and the end. He is the actor and we are the ones acted upon. Brief overview: loaded with verbs pray give come know enlightened called believe working repeated words know (twice) power (twice) Who-God What-gives spirit of wisdom and re

Leadership Model

Lk 9:18-27 Peter’s Declaration about Jesus Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ They answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’ Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’ Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of

A bunch of Bonhoeffer devotions

It's been crazy lately with school. I've ready so much good stuff lately that I've wanted to share it all. But though a bit behind, I'm going to post some recent Bonhoeffer devotions that are powerful. Enjoy! Community Prayer The prayer of the Psalms teaches us to pray as a community. The body of Christ is praying, and I as an individual recognize that my prayer is only a tiny fraction of the whole prayer of the church. I learn to join the body of Christ in its prayer. That lifts me above my personal concerns and allows me to pray selflessly. Many of the Psalms were very probably prayed antiphonally by the Old Testament congregation. The so-called parallelism of the verses, that remarkable repetition of the same idea in different words in the second line of the verse, is not merely a literary form. It also has meaning for the church and theology....One night read, as a particularly clear example, Psalm 5. Repeatedly there are two voices, bringing the same prayer requ

Being Molded

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This is a powerful illustration of God's work in our lives. Follow this link to a profound message. http://www.nesynod.org/publications/2007_TheLink/link-may-2007.pdf