This lectionary reflection on 2 Kings 2:1-15 emphasizes our need for spiritual mentors and role models, like Elijah and Elisha. The text illustrates three key lessons: disciples keeping their eyes fixed on their mentors, mentors leading mentees to important lessons and places, and mentors empowering mentees to overcome obstacles and stay on the Narrow Way. … More Spiritual Orphans and the Gift of a Mentor
Who is Amanda?” The reader might be wondering. Amanda is indeed a fictional character I created. Yet, a bit of Amanda lives in most of us. Let me try to describe her a bit more. … More Who is Amanda, really?
We had a nice turnout and some yummy popcorn at our first showing of The Chosen Sunday at MainStreet Covenant. Each Tuesday we’re releasing a follow-up reflection on the Anchor Podcast featuring myself and other MainStreet voices. Listen to the first one here. … More Chosen 1 – He Knows Your Name
How can children of a wandering Aramean whose holy vocation is to “be a blessing to all nations” be comfortable with rhetoric so passionately America-focused? How can citizens of an “others-first” Kingdom rally around such an “us-first” platform? … More A Wandering Aramean Was My Father
Here’s a great and urgent message by Skye Jethani filled with Scriptural wisdom touching on the key themes of the smartphones and the rise of mental illness and suicide rates, the role of fathers in our search for identity, and our proneness toward placing our security and significance in things other than God. … More Urgent Message for a Smartphone Generation
Today most names are chosen based on a parent’s preference or popularity. But in the ancient world, a person’s name was believed to be the essence of their identity. … More Your True Name (Skye Jethani)
This short essay seeks to answer the question: “Did Jesus act more like a scribe or a prophet (or both)? Martin Hengel concludes his careful exploration of Jesus’ identity stating “Neither the misleading term “rabbi” nor the designation “eschatological prophet,” which is likewise open to misunderstanding, can adequately characterize his activity. Jesus’ “charisma” breaks through the … More ESSAY: Jesus: Scribe, Prophet or Both?
Dear Beloved, I use that salutation purposefully, knowing how strange it must sound to contemporary ears: “Dear Beloved?” We live in an age of quickly shot-off emails and spontaneous texts that begin with an informal “Yo” or “Hey”(if there’s any salutation at all). But let me tell you why I use “beloved” in my weekly … More Beloved
The Christian life is filled with counterintuitive paradoxical truths. One of my favorites is Jesus’ strange warning that “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:33). On the surface this is ludicrous. I mean the last time I lost $10 I was poorer and … More Re-Born Identity: “Kingdom Exchange Principle”
The wind was steady and the snow was blinding. I could barely see my own outstretched hand as I shuffled through the deepening snow. My bare legs were now numb from the cold as I plowed through drifts nearly up to my waist. Jesus’ footprints were barely visible and disappearing quickly. I had to keep … More Cabin 19: Footprints in the Snow
Co-dependency is my tendency. I worry what others think. I analyze every move considering if it was a wink or just a blink. Always apologizing even if I didn’t make a mistake is agonizing to take. I rely on the praise of people, but now I worship the One in the steeple. The Holy One … More Redefine Me (by Danny Evans)
Today we begin an ongoing series of reflections on Mark’s gospel. Saddle up for a discipleship adventure! At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him … More Adventures in Mark 1 (1:9-13)
Jeremy L. Berg 