For those Christians who feel the tug to read great literature, know that it is not a waste of your time. These books will only deepen your appreciation for the Scriptures and will open your eyes to a fuller, more profound vision of reality and the God who loves you.
We are invited to entrust everything to the one who accomplished what we could not: living and bleeding and dying and rising again, so that “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). To put it another way, when it comes to the kingdom of God, there’s no room for DIY’ers. Best leave it to the professionals.
We live in the “already” but “not yet”. Peace is already ours but not yet. The resurrection is already ours but not yet. Justice is already ours but not yet. Until then be comforted by the fact that you are reconciled in Christ on account of his life, death, and resurrection.

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Paul is thinking of the cross and empty tomb, but the liturgical calendar places us at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, not the end: Jesus standing waist deep in the Jordan River.
Love turns out to be not simply a thing or action, but a characteristic of God himself.
The shepherds are the most unlikely people to play the role the angels cast them in.
The episode of the boy Jesus in the Temple raises questions. It raised questions for Mary (and Joseph) and it raises questions for us.
Solomon uses his new gift of wisdom immediately, but as he grows older he appears to use this gift less and less!
As we continue to celebrate the mystery of the incarnation, this is a perfect moment to meditate on how the work of God “in Christ" unfolds in every moment of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
In preaching, auditors are informed and instructed on hearing the voice of the Other, not themselves or contemporary resonances.
All the redeeming in God’s Word ultimately points to the first-born, only Begotten, who redeems the world.
The text is not a legalistic set of principles. It is a description of the way things are for us, now that Christ has entered in.
Luke does not say much else about Anna, especially in comparison to Simeon. But the fact that he mentions her suggests she has something to teach your hearers today.
The Advents of Christ (past, present, and future) elicit faith in the word of Christ, confirmed by his presence.
Pastor Craft: Essays and Sermons is now available through 1517 Publishing