The Church in Exile

Colossians 1:11–12a: A Prayer for Strength and Endurance for the Journey

Leave a Comment / Church, Colossians, Spiritual Disciplines, The Church in Exile / By /

11May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, . . . Paul’s prayer for the good folks at the Colossae church continues with a run-on sentence we are unpacking phrase by phrase. Just a little textual note here: Early New Testament manuscripts carry few punctuation marks, so sometimes we can’t really tell where one sentence ends and another begins. I have personally seen the Codex Sinaiticus at the British Museum; not only is there no punctuation […]

Colossians 1:11–12a: A Prayer for Strength and Endurance for the Journey Read More »

Colossians 1:9b-10: Knowing in Order to Act Wisely

Leave a Comment / Church, Colossians, Spiritual Disciplines, The Church in Exile / By /

9. . . asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. Today in our continuing study of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we are tarrying a bit around verses 1:9-10 in order to unpack one of the apostle’s cascading sentences. Yesterday I mentioned that the church so easily falls into a pattern that yields bitterness and stagnates growth. This

Colossians 1:9b-10: Knowing in Order to Act Wisely Read More »

Colossians 1:9–14: A Prayer Everyone Needs

4 Comments / Church, Colossians, Sermon on the Mount, Spiritual Disciplines, The Church in Exile / By /

9For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has

Colossians 1:9–14: A Prayer Everyone Needs Read More »

When Church Has Betrayed You

3 Comments / Church, The Church in Exile, The Pastoral Call / By /

My studies of “the missional church” in the last seven years have heightened my awareness of those the church-growth movement used to call the unchurched. Sixty years ago, the people in this category were less likely to have ever gone to church to be exposed to the basic claims of the Christian gospel. They were probably in the minority in post WWII American culture, which in the 1950s was seeing the filling and exponential growth of church congregations nationwide. Consequently, attention to the unchurched was largely a ministry of evangelism. During this era, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Campus Crusade for Christ

When Church Has Betrayed You Read More »

Welcome to the New Year, from the Valley

1 Comment / PCUSA, Personal, The Church in Exile / By /

My family and I made an excursion to Death Valley National Park this week. Home to the lowest elevation spot in the Western Hemisphere—Badwater Basin—Death Valley in the summer is unbearably hot and dry (routinely 120° during the day, “cooling down” to 100° at night). We chose the wiser course and journeyed down during the last week of December. Theoretically, the average temperature in December is 65°, but during our stay the temperatures hovered in the mid-50s during the day, going down to the mid-30s at night. The wind howled, blowing sand and dust everywhere. We came home two days

Welcome to the New Year, from the Valley Read More »

Scroll to Top