Why I Needed a Church That Gives Jesus: On Rooted Faith and Real Absolution
By Michael Gibney
06/10/25
11mins

Why I Needed a Church That Gives Jesus: On Rooted Faith and Real Absolution

What I was missing—what so many are missing—is a Church that doesn’t just speak about Christ, but delivers him.
August Hermann Francke: A Practical Pietist
Sam Leanza Ortiz
Sam Leanza Ortiz
06/09/25

August Hermann Francke: A Practical Pietist

Though several generations removed from Luther’s generation, Francke came of age right on time for a new wave of spirituality to collide with the Reformation in the movement known as Pietism.
Pentecost and the Beautiful Mess of the Church
Ryan Couch
Ryan Couch
06/06/25

Pentecost and the Beautiful Mess of the Church

Every time someone is baptized, every time bread is broken and wine poured, every time a sinner hears, “Your sins are forgiven in Christ,” Pentecost happens again.

All Articles

Chad Bird
Chad Bird
12/30/14

When the Psalms Pray Me

Yes, I pray, but it is the Spirit who prays for me, in me, through me. I no more make up my own prayers than I made up the English language.
Dan van Voorhis
Dan van Voorhis
12/24/14

Death and Christmas

I know it’s a rite of pious holiday passage to complain about the commercialization of Christmas and to remind everyone to keep the “Christ” in Christmas. And don’t forget the secular “war on Christmas." Whatever.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/16/14

Taking the Road More Traveled By: The Benefit of Tradition in the Church

Ultimately, however, I fell in love with traditions—and specifically, traditional worship—for a single, overarching reason: its components, to varying degrees, are all in the service of the Gospel.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/08/14

Here's What Happened on the Day of My Funeral

The pastor put a hand over my mouth, another between my shoulder blades, and backward I fell into the dark waters, buried beneath Noah's flood, the Red Sea, Jordan's stream, all the way down into a borrowed tomb outside Jerusalem where a crucified man lay waiting for me.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/06/14

The Death of the Sons of David

Yet as we mourn, but unlike those who have no hope, so also we repent, but unlike those who have no absolution. For we though we weep, there is a hand that dries all tears.
Rick Ritchie
Rick Ritchie
11/04/14

The Stephen King Method

King has some kind of belief in God, but was probably under no inner compulsion to do anything we would term evangelism.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/14/14

Picking at Scabs: The Religion of Regret

As with so many things, regret can begin as something natural, even beneficial, as you struggle to recover from a wound in your past. But over time, regret can devolve from a sadness to a sickness.
Mark Jasa
Mark Jasa
10/08/14

My God, My God

I explained to her that Jesus was quoting Psalm 22 and pointing us to the prediction of His crucifixion. She then replied, "Isn't there more to it than that?"
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/04/14

The Day God Wrapped Up Yom Kippur

From creator to priest, our God now moves, from forming animals to slaying them, all so that His Adam and His Eve might remain truly His.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
09/22/14

A Victim's Shame

Wouldn’t it be great if there were something that could de-shame us?
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
09/15/14

Honest Parenting: Tell Children the "Dreadful Beauty" of Painful Truths

My daughter’s honest, pointed question of “Why?” not only desired an answer; it deserved and demanded the “dreadful beauty” of an honest response.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
09/09/14

When Your Own Family Betrays You

Being thrown in the pit was but one of the many smoking guns that the prosecutor could bring forth as evidence.
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