As the Apostle John puts it so simply, but so profoundly in three words, God is love. But we need to immediately recognize a challenge or a difficulty at this point. Talking about love is not so straightforward or easy.
His Steadfast Heart
His Compassionate and Merciful Heart
His Heart's Anger
His Comforting Heart
God's heart or the person of God is filled with mercy and compassion deep down. This is his deep disposition. He is merciful. He is compassionate. Comfort is when that deep disposition is moved towards a specific object, one of his children, and it's moved in such a way that it acts in order to comfort.
His Gentle and Lowly Heart
As Christians, we believe that our faith is far more than a set of ideas. We believe it is a heart connection, that it has this effective center where our hearts come into contact with the eternal and the glorious heart of God. We also believe as people living through this current season that our hearts can grow weary and cold, and it is only under this great heart that they are finally renewed and reshaped. So our heart connected to his, that's what we're after.
The Heart According to Scripture
The past year has been hard on our hearts. At least this is what I see when I talk to many of you and when I think about myself. And so I want us to take some time as we close the season Epiphany in the next two or three weeks and as we moved through the season of lent, I want us to take some time to work on our hearts. The main way we will approach this is by putting our hearts before God's heart.
Ambassadors For Reconciliation
Relational Goals for 2021
Asked what commandment was most important, Jesus answered, “Love God and love neighbor” (Matthew 22:36–39). I’ve often understood this command to be about doing—do what God desires and do nice things for others, and you’ll be loving them. However, I’m coming to see that at a deeper level Jesus’s words here are about being…
Prayers of the People: Presidents, Politics and Precedent
In a town like Washington, it seems that even the Sunday Prayers of the People can be politicized. Due to this, I want to clarify the non-personal and non-partisan factors that determine what and who we pray for, and why we pray for certain leaders by name. Both Scripture and tradition set a precedent…
A Biblical Framework for Addressing Racism
This has been a hard week to be away. Our country is in upheaval as the problem of racial injustice—both a past and present issue—confronts us in the streets and media. I have heard from many of you via email, text or phone call. Dear friends in our community are hurting, confused, angry, and tired. The issue before us, racism in America…