The modern man found the church too simple exactly where modern life is too complex; he found the church too gorgeous exactly where modern life is too dingy. The man who disliked the plain fasts and feasts was mad on entrees. The man who disliked vestments wore a pair of preposterous trousers. And surely if […]
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Author: Rick Shrader
Vision and Revision
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart Nought be all else to me, save that Thou art; Thou my best thought, by day or by night; Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. Irish hymn, c. 8th century Vance Havner said, ‘‘A leader is a person with a magnet in his heart […]
Come, Let Us Adore Him
Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow’d and so gracious is the […]
For Glory And For Beauty
I wish that the young men might have something to rid them of their love ditties and wanton songs and might instead of these learn wholesome things and thus yield willingly to the good; also, because I am not of the opinion that all the arts shall be crushed to earth and perish through the […]
A Virtual Reality World
Men seek stronger sins or more startling obscenities as stimulants to their jaded sense . . . They try to stab their nerves to life, as if it were with knives of the priest of Baal. They are walking in their sleep and try to wake themselves up with nightmares. G.K. Chesterton The February 8, […]
Worshiping Worship
We who defend Christianity find ourselves constantly opposed not by the irreligion of our hearers but by their real religion. Speak about beauty, truth and goodness, or about a God who is simply the indwelling principle of these three, speak about a great spiritual force pervading all things, a common mind of which we are […]
The Earth Is Satisfied
It is truly a most Christian exercise to extract a sentiment of piety from the works and appearances of nature. Our Saviour expatiates on a flower, and draws from it the delightful argument of confidence in God. He gives us to see that taste may be combined with piety, and that the same heart may […]
Were The Reformers Wrong?
Unless I am convicted of error by the testimony of Scripture or (since I put no trust in the unsupported authority of pope or of councils, since it is plain that they have often erred and often contradicted themselves) by manifest reasoning I stand convicted by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my […]
Ministering To Our Culture
Who cares how many boxes of cereal can be sold via television? We need to know if television changes our conception of reality, the relationship of the rich to the poor, the idea of happiness itself. A preacher who confines himself to considering how a medium can increase his audience will miss the significant question: […]
Reaching The Postmodern Man
I searched for America’s greatness in her matchless Constitution, and it was not there. I searched for America’s greatness in her halls of Congress, and it was not there. I searched for America’s greatness in her rich and fertile fields and teeming potential, and it was not there. It was not until I went into […]