servanthood

2762) Wisdom from Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, in Montgomery, Alabama, from 1954 to 1960.  Everyone knows about Rev. King’s work after 1960, but many forget that his work as a reformer that changed America began with, and grew out of, his call to serve as […]

2762) Wisdom from Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Read More »

2761) “I Have Seen the Promised Land”

By John Piper, at http://www.desiringgod.org, January 21, 2013      The racial world I grew up in and the one we live in today are amazingly different.  Racism remains in many forms in America and around the world.  But in the days of my youth the segregation was almost absolute and the defense of it

2761) “I Have Seen the Promised Land” Read More »

2760) Whom Shall I Fear?

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born 96 years ago today.  He died April 4, 1968 at the age of thirty-nine, assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray.  Five months earlier, in a sermon to his congregation on November 5, 1967, King said this: You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be.

2760) Whom Shall I Fear? Read More »

2651) Advice from Aunt Agnes

 From a sermon      Whenever I have to give a stewardship sermon I think about my grandmother’s oldest sister, Aunt Agnes.  She was a kind old lady, and I only once remember her having a stern word for anyone, and that was for me.  I was still in seminary, and it pleased her to

2651) Advice from Aunt Agnes Read More »

2563) Dealing With Ingratitude

    In these quotes taken from an anthology of quotes by Martin Luther (What Luther Says, volume 3,  Concordia), Luther teaches us to learn to live with ingratitude. ————————      To learn to be thankful is not enough; we must also get used to exercising the virtue of bearing up under ingratitude.  This virtue

2563) Dealing With Ingratitude Read More »

2487) The Glue That Holds the World Together

From Speaking of the Dead by Russell Saltzman  (American Lutheran Publicity Books, 2014, pages 89-94).      Most people can name their grandparents. Quite a few are able to name their great-grandparents. But reaching beyond to a fourth generation is almost impossible from simple memory. By and large, by the third generation following our own

2487) The Glue That Holds the World Together Read More »

2435) Playing Your Part Well (2 of 2)

Above:   Pharaoh’s daughter finds the infant Moses while Miriam watches from a distance. —————————-       (…continued)  Moses is thus not only saved from certain death, but he is allowed to live in the palace.  His own mother is hired to care for him and will be paid out of the king’s treasury to

2435) Playing Your Part Well (2 of 2) Read More »

2434) Playing Your Part Well (1 of 2)

Above:  The small passageway and door to the State box seats at Ford’s Theater ****************************      John Parker had the worst seat in the theater.  He was attending a popular comedy and could hear the audience roaring with laughter.  He could hear most of the lines being said, so sometimes he knew what everyone

2434) Playing Your Part Well (1 of 2) Read More »

2426) Finishing Well

From Things Not Seen, by Jon Bloom, pages 77-80, 2005. “FAILURE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THE LAST WORD: DEMAS, MARK, AND FAILURE” —————————————-      Demas and Mark are contrasts in failure.  One provides us a word of warning, the other a word of hope.  And as people who stumble in many ways (James 3:2),

2426) Finishing Well Read More »

2343) Answers to Prayers in COVID-19

First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham, North Carolina —————————- From Can the Pandemic Be an Answered Prayer? by Rosaria Butterfield at:  http://www.desiringgod.org Rosaria Butterfield is former tenured professor of English at Syracuse University.  She is married to Rev. Kent Butterfield, pastor of the First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham, North Carolina. Her story is told

2343) Answers to Prayers in COVID-19 Read More »