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What is Contemplative Prayer?

...ut ask in faith, never doubting ... for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.   In all of this, we draw nearer to the Lord. And in doing so, he draws closer to us! James 4:8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.   Meditate Some people don't like the word “meditate” as it conjures up strange Eastern practices with monks sitting cross-legged saying “ommm..” repeatedly.   But that's only one type, and is so far removed from Christian meditation it shouldn't...

The Author of Life Knew Death For Our Sake!

...nt to our faith, though only made sense of by the resurrection. This is the Gospel, the Good News, which has been preached the world over since. The Good News is that despite the One who authored Life itself being put to death on a tree (Acts 10:39-40), it is also through him that we are given eternal life and can partake in the resurrection in which Jesus was the first fruits of (1 Cor 15:20). Irenaeus gives a concise overview of this Gospel message and draws out the dual nature of the tree, when he writes, “by means of a tree, we were made debtors to God. Likewise, by means of a tree, we can obtain the remission of our debt.”. But what does that mean? I...

Lent Day 40: Leo the Great: Sermon LXXII: ON THE LORD'S RESURRECTION, II

...Day Forty: St. Leo the Great: Sermon LXXII: ON THE LORD'S RESURRECTION, II Who: Leo the Great, also known as Pope St. Leo I (the Great), was Pope from 440-61 AD. Place and date of birth unknown; died 10 November, 461. Leo's pontificate, next to that of St. Gregory I, is the most significant and important in Christian antiquity, as he tried to  combat the heresies which seriously threatened church unity even in the West, such as Pelagianism. What: A sermon on the Gospel, incarnation and resurrection of our Lord. Why: To encourage the Church in the power of the incarnation and the true faith and the nature of Christ and to give a new meaning to Passover in lig...

Exodus: Gods and Kings Review - Action epic loosely based on the Bible

...ld man of faith. He's a strong and confident Egyptian army general in the beginning and then becomes an argumentative and stubborn man when God tells him of His intentions with the plagues. Definitely not the man who requested his brother Aaron to speak on his behalf which, incidentally, didn't occur in the film. Aaron always seemed to be lurking in the background when Moses spoke with God, afraid to approach. He also couldn't see God, that was something only Moses had the ability to do. Speaking of God, this was another portrayal I initially liked at first, in part at least. God appears throughout this film as a child. I admit, at first I didn't like the de...

Lent: Day 1 - The Didache

...their new faith communities. The book opens with a strong and definitive start: The Two Ways, one of life and one of death. This is reminiscent of the various lists of vices which Paul writes to avoid in his epistles, contrasted with the right way to conduct yourself to enter the Kingdom. Some of the other things that are quite striking about the Didache, are the practices described that demonstrate that certain things which the Church (via different denominations/branches) has taught through the centuries actually originated at the very start, well within the first century. Such as baptism not always being full immersion, but sprinkling being permitted where...

Did the Qumran community predict the coming of Jesus?

...I'm going to start a new category here for "General Interest" which will be for things I see or read about that I think are interesting or informative about the Bible, Christianity or the faith in general; but which aren't necessarily topics I could, or would need to, write a full blog post about. I'll kick off this new venture with an brief look at something I read the other day from the Dead Sea scrolls which is very interesting – Qumran text 4Q521. It gives us a glimpse of early Jewish expectations of the coming Messiah from the time before Jesus arrived, and shows just how Jesus did actually meet those expectations. For example, when John asks his disci...