The Original Sin of Preaching: The Constant Craving for a Useful God in Pulpit and Pew
By Magnus Persson
03/25/26
12mins

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.
Even Chuck Norris Needed a Savior
Russ Lackey
Russ Lackey
03/23/26

Even Chuck Norris Needed a Savior

The gospel isn’t for the strong but people who know they aren’t.
Post-Denominational Lutheranism
John W. Hoyum
John W. Hoyum
03/20/26

Post-Denominational Lutheranism

One great thing about our post-denominational age is that it has opened up opportunities to make common cause with other Lutherans who, despite their differences and eccentricities, can agree on some of the most important things.

All Articles

Brian W. Thomas
Brian W. Thomas
03/22/16

Good Friday: Fouled Out, For Us

Thankfully, our heavenly Father sent a Champion into the game to take our place. What we failed to do, He accomplished.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
03/21/16

God's Filthy Hands

He is the God who makes His glory visible in lowliness and servitude. He is the God who is so poor that He must borrow a donkey to ride into Jerusalem.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
03/17/16

A High Feast Day for Failures and Fools

If you want to find God, he’s hiding in plain sight. Christ is in the very things that we would never select as a vessel befitting divinity.
Kathy Morales
Kathy Morales
03/17/16

Tell the Easter Bunny How Much You’ve Grown

I was walking through a mall recently, and all the spring decorations and colors were starting to appear. It was refreshing to see the fresh colors and a change of scenery as I strolled through the mall.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
03/14/16

The Most Unusual Cemetery in America: New York City’s Hart Island and the Heart of Easter’s Lord

The Lord has a special place in his heart for those whom the world forgets. For the anonymous. For the rejected.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/28/16

Pastors Don't Always Want to Go to Church Either

For many, there are days when they’re as excited about going to work on Sunday morning as you are about going to work on Monday morning.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/09/16

Fat Tuesday's Redemption

Warning, Remember, O man, that thou art dust… And lust, he mocks in mute self-condemnation.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/08/16

Hurts So Good: Our Dirty Little Secret on Ash Wednesday

What is really good for the soul is not so much confession as absolution. If confession is us telling the truth about ourselves to God, then absolution is God telling us a truer truth about ourselves.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/06/16

Three Hymns on the Transfiguration

In nature one with God, The Son partakes in love, Of human flesh that we, Partake of God above.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/03/16

Sometimes We See Too Much

Whether we are overcome by happiness on the mountaintop or overwhelmed by sorrow in the valley, our vision can be our greatest handicap.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
02/02/16

The Message That Called Me Out of Atheism and Plopped Me Into a Pulpit

Believe in God, belong to a church, and behave yourself isn’t the Gospel.
Uwe Siemon-Netto
Uwe Siemon-Netto
01/18/16

How Bach became a Hit in Japan

During my many journeys to Japan, I discovered that more than a quarter millennium after his death Bach is now playing a key role in evangelizing that country, one of the most secularized nations in the developed world.
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