Gathering with other believers to worship remains one of the most significant things we do, because it’s our way of imitating heaven. Worship is the business, the lifeblood, the heartbeat of heaven. Spirit-led worship here and now gives us a taste of heaven unlike...
I shall Gather up All the lost souls That wander this earthAll the ones that are aloneAll the ones that are broken All the ones that never really fitted in I shall gather them all up And together we shall find our home from "Gather Up," in A Little Book of Poetry
Anyway, most of the openhearted wanderers I’ve encountered are looking not for a bulletproof belief system but for a community of friends, not for a spiritual encyclopedia that contains every answer but for a gathering of loved ones in which they can ask the hard...
The signs are all around us. We can see them springing up like wildflowers after the prairie rain. People who had fallen asleep are waking up. People who had been content to watch are wanting to join. People who never said a word are speaking out. The tipping point of...
Consumerism turned the Church into a service provider: "I want good preaching" "I want amazing worship" "I want great kids' programs" Would we go to Church if it was just a bunch of ragamuffin Jesus-followers gathering around a table, trying to love God and love...
There we'll all be, gathered around the banquet table, not just the perfect people but also the other 99.9 percent of humanity. The prodigal son and his hard-partying buddies, the joyful father; the oldest son, and his responsible friends too, they're all there along...
Here is a peeving, depressed preacher who is mad. God sent a little gourd to grow up and make shade over the preacher's head. He is so thrilled at that nice little, leafy plant. Then God sends a little cut worm like the one that cut off your tomato plant last spring....
John's testimonials are lacking in content and repetitious: "Look! The Lamb of God!" Yet on the basis of his witness two of his followers become Jesus' first disciples. Having seen, John testifies so that others might see... As Karl Barth said, anybody who stops on...
Worship is a gift, a gift from God that allows us to achieve our full potential as persons, and a gift to God that acknowledges God as Creator and Redeemer. Without gifts at its center, worship does not occur. God’s people gather for worship not so much to receive a...