Some years back, Keri and I were traveling through Slovakia on October 31. We found lodging in a cute B&B that shared our name. After a good meal, we went out for an evening walk around the village. We didn’t find kids in costumes roaming the streets. Instead, we found a church cemetery lit up with all kinds of lights and candles, and decorated as for a garden party. … More Observing All Saints’ Eve
This is a powerful sermon by Nadia Bolz-Weber for this moment, originally shared in the wake of a mass shooting years ago. As a woman preacher, I can’t help but love St Mary Magdalen. When I first discerned my call to be a preacher I got a tattoo of her on my forearm. I felt that when I needed to, I could borrow her strength. … More Mary Magdalen & Showing Up After Violence
This exposition of 1 Peter 3:18-22 emphasizes a spiritual battle between good and evil forces, urging Christians to be aware of this cosmic struggle. It highlights the role of Jesus in overcoming evil and calls for believers to resist being manipulated by worldly powers. The text also stresses the importance of having a clear conscience before God, rather than pursuing selfish desires or political victories. … More An Appeal for a Clear Conscience
My friend John Phelps shared a powerful sermonette in Israel that brought many to tears. Standing in the Garden of Gethsemane he said, “This is my first time standing in this place, and yet I’ve been here many times.” He shared wisdom on how to face our own suffering, and now he’s battling brain cancer and practicing what he preached. … More Facing Your Own Gethsemane
This Easter we explore Resurrection through the lenses of the Jonah story and hear a sermon we’ll not soon forget, “Resurrection Vomit.” … More WATCH: “Resurrection Vomit” (Easter 2021)
Like Jonah’s experience in the belly, the past year can be summed up as “Dark, Cramped, & Stinky.” This Good Friday let us join Jonah in the belly of the fish, to imaginatively enter into his experience and ponder his prayer from the depths. And anticipate Resurrection! … More Dark, Cramped, & Stinky (Good Friday Vigil)
Start talking about a pandemic and you’ll see the true color and substance of people’s faith. … More Jiffy Lube, Coronavirus & the Spread of Christianity
This Thursday we will gather in our home for our first HouseChurch gathering of the spring. We will share a meal, fellowship, hear the apostles’ teachings, celebrate the eucharist and pray for Thy Kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven. The shades will be up and our doors will be unlocked and … More Locked Doors, Deflated Hearts
Driving through the Colorado mountains in our minivan last month, our family got a great kick out of holding our breath as we drove through the tunnels that drill their way through the mountain. After a suspenseful moment of darkness, the light would appear up ahead, and a few seconds later we would be laughing … More The Journey Through Easter Mountain
A Sermon preached February 17, 2019 Texts: Jeremiah 17:5-10; Psalm 1; 1 Cor. 15:12-20 One of the great privileges of parenting is introducing kids to things for the first time—classic movies, timeless stories, and, my favorite, music legends. Recently, seven year old Peter and I shared a holy moment on the drive home from IKEA … More The Third Tree
Q: How can a modern person believe a man was raised from the dead? I’ll let Hank Hanegraaff answer this one in his article “The F-E-A-T that Demonstrates the FACT of Resurrection” Because of its centrality to Christianity, those who take the sacred name of Christ upon their lips must be prepared to defend the … More Q&A: Did Jesus Really Rise Again?
Let us draw near to the cross on this Good Friday, keep vigil, contemplate the Lord’s passion, consider his agony of spirit and physical torture. Let us not fall asleep as the three did in Gethsemane, nor abandon him as the rest did by the end. When we ponder his last moments, just before the … More My God, My God (Psalm 22)
I’ve been studying the raising of Lazarus recently. I love how a closer examination of a very familiar passage can reveal new spiritual truths. Here are a few little insights I’ve gleaned. First, this story is full of deep emotions and coated with tears, grief, loss and longing. Just think of the last funeral visitation you … More Move the Stone, Come Out & Be Unwrapped
“Make no mistake: if He rose at all it was as His body; if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the church will fall…. Let us not mock God with metaphor, Analogy, sidestepping transcendence; Making of the even a parable, a sign painted in the faded credulity of … More Seven Stanzas at Easter (J. Updike)
“Now [God] uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. 15Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. 16To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But … More Mailbox Podcast: “Smells Like Death”
As a Bible geek, I’m also a Bible movie geek. Movies have the power to bring written story to life in living color. In a visual culture this is an especially important medium for introducing people to the story and claims of the Bible. So, I’m definitely hoping Mark Burnett and Roma Downey’s latest work A.D. The … More Why the A.D. Series is ‘Must See TV’
The following post is worth reading. I found it during my Easter sermon study and preparation as I prepare to trace the New Creation theme through the Gospel of John. I have read the book he’s referring to by N.T. Wright. I, too, am a huge fan and student of Wright. Get the book! Enjoy! … More N.T. Wright: The Gospel of John & Second Genesis
From the old DI archives, here’s a piece written in 2006 comparing my blogging habits to the spiritual life. At that time I had lost inspiration and quit blogging for weeks before finally posting this. -JB Yes, I was dead. My pages were stilled. My message was silenced. Some faithful readers came by to visit … More Blogging Habits and the Spiritual Life
Every Easter my wife gets a call from her dad singing this song from the top of his lungs! But he’s no match for this puppet choir! HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!!
Many people begin asking some of the ultimate faith questions around Easter time. What is it like after you die? Where is heaven? What is it like? What will our resurrection bodies be like? What about Hell? Where is Hell located? Does it even exist? Bishop of Durham and New Testament scholar N.T. Wright addresses … More N.T. Wright on Heaven, Hell & Resurrection
Jeremy L. Berg 