The Hermit and the Blackbird
By Donavon Riley
03/27/26
11mins

The Hermit and the Blackbird

Lent exists because we are forgetful creatures. We forget how hungry we really are.
Getting Over Your Moral Superiority
Daniel Emery Price
Daniel Emery Price
03/26/26

Getting Over Your Moral Superiority

The Pharisee valued fasting and giving tithes, but could not find value in his fellow sinner.
The Original Sin of Preaching: The Constant Craving for a Useful God in Pulpit and Pew
Magnus Persson
Magnus Persson
03/25/26

The Original Sin of Preaching: The Constant Craving for a Useful God in Pulpit and Pew

God is not a tool in our hands. He does not exist to serve our goals, our metrics, or our platforms.

All Articles

David Rufner
David Rufner
10/17/18

The Gift of Belonging

It is only when individuals are bound together in community that they become fully human.
Bruce Hillman
Bruce Hillman
10/15/18

Five Ways Apologetics Can Respond to Postmodernity

What postmoderns see in modernism is a misuse of power through the control of dominant narratives.
Robert Kolb
Robert Kolb
10/14/18

The Preacher as Conversation Partner

Good communication depends on trust to make such conversation work effectively. The truth springs, first, from God's own promise and the punch put into that promise by the mysterious power of the Holy Spirit.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/13/18

A Lament for Hurricane Victims

Here is a lament I’ve written especially for victims of hurricanes. May it be for you, for your family, or for your church, a way to put into prayer the anguish of your souls.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
10/11/18

Ordinary Joy

She said, “Keep coming back, and you’ll know joy.” He wanted to vomit a rainbow of resentment, bitterness, and loathing all over her faux-leather boots.
Valerie Thur
Valerie Thur
10/11/18

What If and What Is

For all its stewing, regret ironically does not truly focus on the past. Often it is more concerned with the present and the future and how they would be if only we had done something differently.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/07/18

The Two Reasons Our Past Can Be Changed

In Christ, God’s Son, yesterday, today, and tomorrow all collapse into one. He holds in himself everything from the beginning to the end of the world.
John Bombaro
John Bombaro
10/04/18

Name Brand

Many scholars believe that what Jesus says in verses 18-20 are the key to Matthew's Gospel. Actually, it may be the key to the entire Bible, for in these three verses we see the full scope of the history of redemption brought to bear in one history-altering, cosmic event: Baptizing in God's name.
Tate Barber
Tate Barber
09/27/18

I May Not Be A Smart Man, But I Know What The Gospel Is

I am not a good Lutheran. I have only been around reformation theology for a few years.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
09/25/18

I’d Never Go to That Church

Would you go to the church on the corner knowing that the pastor is an ex-con?
Valerie Thur
Valerie Thur
09/25/18

The Belief Cure

We try believing in more abstract concepts: justice, happiness, and self-improvement, only to find that we can never truly grasp which standards should be accepted and which should be rejected.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
09/18/18

Jesus Opens Us

Jesus opened our ears and mouth when He baptizes us. Jesus put His fingers into our ears, speaks to us, and washes our sins away.
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