On many Sundays I find pastors telling me “Remember your baptism!” Sometimes water is poured into the font. Sometimes there is a bit of liturgy. But what do we remember, really? I hang around Presbyterian churches. Most of the people around me were baptized as infants. How many secretly respond Nope! Can’t remember a thing about it.” Even […]
St. Jerome, the Complicated Christian
Today the Western Church commemorates St. Jerome (c. 347-420). What a complicated fellow. First passionate about secular literature, he gave it up to be a scholar of the Bible and a leader in the ascetic life. Absolutely counter-cultural — but maybe this Doctor of the Church still has things to teach us. He was controversial […]
Okay, Why “Trespasses,” “Debts” and “Sins”? (Heidelberg Catechism Q119)
One peril of visiting a new church comes when it is time to pray. At least if the congregation of a traditional flavor they will wrap up with something like “Now let join our voices in the prayer Christ himself has taught us, saying…” It all goes fine for a while: …Father… …Name… …kingdom… …will… …daily […]
How to Organize Your Faith (Heidelberg Catechism Q24)
Shhh! A whole lot of Christians are quietly afraid that someday, someone will ask them about their faith. We need some outline points, like the pegs on a coat rack. No hooks and you just have a pile of stuff on the floor. Add a row of pegs and you can hang up a whole lot of stuff […]
How Do You Know That? (Heidelberg Catechism Q. 19)
You and I were born in an age shaped by scientific thinking. We find it hard to accept that there might be ways of knowing other than through science — the proof of hypotheses through experimentation. It is a sort of cultural mythos, this devotion to science. It is a religion without a temple. We […]