November 2023
Thanksgiving Dinner
It was 160 years ago, at the height of the Civil War, that President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. In his Thanksgiving Proclamation, issued on October 3, 1863 and published a couple days later in the New York Times, he spoke of the many ways that God […]
Grace Be With You
We turn our attention to the final greetings that mark the end of the letter (Colossians 4:7-18). At first blush these verses might strike us as being not particularly worthy of study and reflection. The main body of the letter, with its weighty exhortations and deep teaching, concluded in verse 6. These verses, by contrast, […]
October 2023
Final Greetings for Colossae
We turn our attention to the final greetings that mark the end of the letter (Colossians 4:7-18). At first blush these verses might strike us as being not particularly worthy of study and reflection. The main body of the letter, with its weighty exhortations and deep teaching, concluded in verse 6. These verses, by contrast, […]
Gospel-Shaped Community
We continue our study through the New Testament book of Colossians by studying Colossians 3:18-4:1. This passage describes a number of relationships and how they ought to be lived out within a Gospel-shaped community. I hope you can join us as we spend time in this challenging portion of scripture together.
Church Family
We will be continue our study through the New Testament book of Colossians by studying Colossians 3:12-17. In these verses we will see the important role that our church family holds as a means of grace in our lives to help us put on the new self.
Put On Christ
At the heart of these verses is the command to put off the old self and to put on the new. That sort of talk from Paul raises questions in my mind. Like, how would one do that precisely? And, why does Paul use the analogy of putting on new clothes to describe our transformation […]
Things Above
I remember a time when Sarah and I moved out of a crummy apartment and into a better one. While we were living in the old apartment, we had been full of energy, ideas and enthusiasm to improve the place, but once the decision had been made (or even nearly made) to move into a […]
September 2023
The Siren Song of False Teaching
In ancient Greek and Roman mythology, the sirens were creatures who would sing in such an alluring way that sailors would be lured in and become shipwrecked on the rocks. In Homer’s Iliad, Odysseus saved his ship and crew by plugging his sailors’ ears with beeswax and giving instructions for them to tie him securely […]
Learning to Walk
The Colossian church to whom Paul wrote the letter that we find in our New Testaments would have been comprised almost entirely of new believers. Most of them were likely recent gentile converts who were probably not even very familiar with the Old Testament scriptures of Judaism. In the language of Colossians 2:6, they had […]
Christ’s Afflictions
During my recent vacation I read through the book of Colossians in my personal devotions. On July 31, I made the following entry in a journal of sorts that I keep, “This morning I spent time with God in Colossians. I struggled to concentrate though. I had to read portions over and over again because […]
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