tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65699539049903051212026-10-15T09:20:24.952-05:00 The Year D ProjectCurating the biblical and Reformed theological traditions in order "to make the Word of God fully known"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger630125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-34760798492116433422026-10-07T11:12:30.646-05:002026-10-07T17:38:38.684-05:00Founding documents of the Reformed tradition: Works of Oecolampadius (5 vols.)For the last 18 years I have been teaching at a seminary that was founded to equip pastors in the German (i.e., German-speaking Swiss) Reformed tradition. For this entire new millennium, the seminary and the university in which it is now nested have been led by two successive presidents who have had the good sense to study carefully and honor the mission of the university's founders. For my part,Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-59557666632132651102026-10-03T13:07:55.896-05:002026-10-15T09:20:24.952-05:00What does it mean to share in Christ's sufferings? (Phil 3)[The following is an alternative and much shorter ending to a recent sermon that was swamped by an attempt at raising a social justice issue. Regardless of the protective and therapeutic aim of the application of the text in the sermon in question — which in this case was to raise awareness of those who have suffered medical injury — such is often the effect of social justice preaching.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-32929114262453967142026-10-03T08:39:56.171-05:002026-10-05T15:24:23.772-05:00Know your congregationInstruction in preaching always entails some consideration of the various contexts in which we preach and should encourage a commitment to gain greater and more intimate knowledge of the congregations we serve regularly and are charged with shepherding (which includes protecting, as well as feeding, leading, etc.). Staple preaching textbooks that deal with congregational contexts look at things Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-47442180915055794542026-10-02T05:38:31.186-05:002026-10-02T05:38:31.186-05:00We face a spiritual crisisAccording to the Surgeon General.So how do we preachers awaken the church to this crisis and rally them to the cause?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-19523780843313476892026-10-01T11:26:23.660-05:002026-10-01T11:26:23.660-05:00Epistemic capture of one field vs. epistemic clarity in anotherSo while several important voices are calling for medicine to escape the epistemic capture of the sciences, here is my old, unassuming dissertation on The Homiletical Kierkegaard and his view of Preaching in Light of the Epistemic Spheres ...Can Kierkegaard's biblically derived understanding of understanding help preachers — and perhaps even scientists — develop eyes to see? This was not Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-51479267054778819302026-10-01T04:23:17.266-05:002026-10-01T04:28:09.140-05:00Avoiding the oppositional tone ... Here is a snippet of the great Sinclair Ferguson warning preachers against using an oppositional tone in their preaching. He has a valid point. Sometimes what is intended as encouragement and grounds for hope comes across as judgment, and righteous indignation on behalf of one's congregation comes across as anger at them. If I may be so bold, however, Ferguson uses such a horrific analogy to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-35341372898856442242026-09-29T07:09:56.332-05:002026-09-29T07:09:56.332-05:00Johnson hearingsPosted with no further comment:https://x.com/SenRonJohnson/status/2104614515392577579?s=20Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-81875083269209111992026-09-14T16:15:22.489-05:002026-09-15T05:02:39.676-05:00Two more reasons to read Oecolampadius' Sermons on the First Epistle of John Cloth w/ DJ Kindle &Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-40388411232164592512026-09-13T06:39:22.035-05:002026-09-13T07:53:23.005-05:00Laffer Curves across the mapSurely every field, every discipline, every profession will, at some point, demonstrate some corollary to the Laffer Curve. Art Laffer's famous napkin sketch (basically a frowny face) doodled for President Reagan describing how there is a tax rate above which revenue decreases rather than increases, i.e., becomes counterproductive—I assume—applies broadly, across the map. In my own area of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-60040792307476692602026-09-10T05:02:40.427-05:002026-09-14T17:23:44.307-05:00The Allison InquiryI wonder how many social justice preachers will be mentioning the Allison Inquiry in their sermons this week. I'll wager zero.UPDATE: "Light will prevail over darkness. Good will prevail over evil."ANOTHER UPDATE: A YT playlist for the Allison Inquiry.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-50467305005290801452026-09-06T04:56:09.731-05:002026-09-06T04:56:09.731-05:00Imago Dei"Imago Dei" is an old track, one of my oldest. It was written and recorded in Andy Thornton's Jump Studio in Glasgow in the late summer of 1993 and debuted as a Late Late Service (LLS) track in the Rolling Magazine Tent at the Greenbelt Festival in the last week of August that year. Andy did the engineering and mixing and added just what was needed, the compelling ambient speech track that runs Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-2238121696660928242026-09-01T22:26:53.515-05:002026-09-04T10:10:10.401-05:00Three vital leadership principles from ScriptureIn my first Doctor of Ministry cohort, I assigned The Peter Principle, which is absolutely hilarious. Surprisingly, I still had a job afterwards, it is so dated and politically incorrect. The point is that I have tried to live by that principle, i.e., not to get promoted beyond my level of competence. But to those who actually do have gifts for institutional leadership and seek to develop Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-52211188772820018892026-09-01T15:43:58.593-05:002026-09-01T15:43:58.593-05:00A life well lived. The world is poorer for his passing. RIP, Wendell Berry. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-20842449130049202412026-08-31T18:08:30.768-05:002026-09-01T06:19:55.195-05:00When/then: Thoughts about starving oxen and promises of prosperity taken out of context.Here is a triply biblical thought:"Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." (Deuteronomy 25:4)"Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." (1Corinthians 9:9)"Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." (1Timothy 5:11)Why do you think the Holy Spirit saw fit to reiterate this three times, once in the Old Testament and twice in the New?And I wonder if we Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-56601638682105578222026-08-19T08:43:02.418-05:002026-09-01T00:14:14.536-05:00Psalm 3 [St. Columba]This was the first of the Revenant Psalms I worked up in 2021. It became Track 2 on the initial volume. Hopefully having the text before you will make it more singable. Meanwhile, this series of videos showing the capo arrangements, chord shapes, fingering, etc., may perhaps have the same effect watching a friend play his snappy technique had on me way back in 1993. It only took me 28 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-21678699554245490812026-07-19T16:24:51.892-05:002026-07-19T16:41:14.892-05:00"Deliverance [An Interlude]"Here's a new video for the instrumental 12-string piece that opens Disc 2 of Revenant Psalms, Vol. V.The track is so titled both for the mood, but also because it inhabits a place among several psalm settings that all seem to cry out for deliverance. Like many of the tracks on Vol. V, it makes use of odd time signatures: 5/4 has such a lilt, I use it a lot, but 11/8 gets a good workout here.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-69834523047249232752026-07-19T04:47:23.022-05:002026-07-19T04:47:23.022-05:00Volksfaßliche Vorträge über den ersten Brief JohannisDies ist die beste mir bekannte Bibelauslegung, die die Grundlagen des Christentums in kompakter Form vermittelt. Der Schweizer Reformator bezeichnete den Ersten Johannesbrief als Schrift, die „das reinste Evangelium“ enthalte. Luther sagte Ähnliches über den Römerbrief, doch der Erste Johannesbrief umfasst nur fünf Kapitel, und der Prediger behandelt dieses Buch gründlicher als jeder seiner Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-26492581865896522592026-05-04T17:27:00.001-05:002026-05-04T17:27:11.900-05:00Revenant Psalms, Vol. V, is on SpotifyHere is the latest and last album in the series — a double! — on Spotify. That's full 1 hour and 38 minutes, nearly two Carnegie (50 min) hours! And here is the whole series of Revenant Psalms on Spotify. That would amount to four additional, or a total of six, class hours.Sorry, I can't actually offer you class credit for listening, but in the grand scheme of things, I am sure it will edifyUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-14593543436019418032026-04-22T08:06:00.003-05:002026-04-22T08:06:51.510-05:00Good.TX can require the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools. So can, and should, every other state.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-30158582763561059562026-04-21T18:18:00.010-05:002026-04-22T08:22:29.699-05:00Preaching on the Ninth CommandmentWhen I said a long while back that I had a dream that one day preachers across the country would all preach on the Ninth Commandment, this was the sort of thing—one of many such—that I had in mind: organizations that take advantage of people's best intentions by alleging with false accusations and psychological projection the very hatred they purport to stand against. Lex talionis, BTW, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-63559118589336130562026-03-07T06:06:00.004-06:002026-03-07T06:10:11.411-06:00Very important poll ... that concerns medical freedom, therefore, freedom generally, which is a matter of not only the human body, but also the mind and spirit. "Where the Spirit is, there is freedom."Because Year D is concerned with making the Word of God fully known — for the glory of God and for the well-being of his beloved world — I am linking this here. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-34948002007406648802026-03-06T04:46:00.003-06:002026-03-06T04:46:46.579-06:00"House Lights Up [Postlude]"Here is the final, final track from the Revenant Psalms project.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-10155359720241555172026-02-22T09:27:00.004-06:002026-02-22T09:29:53.000-06:00Revenant Psalms, Vol. V is streaming (in full)Here is the full YT playlist, but without 1000 subscribers, YT pays literally nothing. Please visit your favorite streaming service to download this and other records. Why stream when you can own it and access it anytime, ad free?Meanwhile, here is the latest track with video and lyrics/paraphrase:"Psalm 110 [Quaternary Resignation]."Thanks for your support.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-35403742723734650342025-12-31T16:58:24.678-06:002025-12-31T16:58:56.333-06:00Revenant Psalms, Vol. V (in progress) Here is just a partial playlist so far. Releasing Vol. V of this series one track at a time. Look for it in 2026.Revenant Psalms, Vol. V https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZZ9pVHWq-xZFAb3CcondvBf2TljkTzn3&si=KebPkh9b0Nh8oRtP via @YouTube Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6569953904990305121.post-24923007737721760412025-11-28T13:05:00.001-06:002025-11-28T13:11:25.909-06:00"New and Full"The polymath John Ruskin once famously defined the sermon as "30 minutes to raise the dead." Let's see if — relying on the good grace of the Word and the Spirit — perhaps six minutes will do. This is a song that brings a lot of old threads together: a short (2:25) excerpt from "Those Who Hear Will Live," an unpublished Easter sermon on John 5; in which ...the kerygmatic real presence ofUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0