Conventional wisdom suggests that people must not advance their opinions about religion if they are to be, or at least appear to be, humble.  Instead, they should defer to the beliefs of others while adopting a critical stance towards their own.  In fact, it’s probably better if they never bring up the subject at all while in polite company. Thankfully, Paul was never one to follow conventional wisdom: Acts 17:22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.  23 For as I passed along and observed the...

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Last week, I took myself and the rest of the pastors’ guild to task for failing to cultivate a love for theology in our churches.  This failure occurs in spite of the fact that pastors themselves love theology and teach it correctly and often.  Pastors excel at conserving theology but come up short on cultivating theology.  Conservation is the means, while cultivation is the end, of theology.  It’s partly because so many pastors treat the means as the end that lay people find theology impractical and uninteresting.   Pastors, however, form only half of the problem.  Lay people have a share...

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More Thoughts on Sunday's Sermon at New Hope Should You Suffer Fools Gladly? Nobody wants to suffer - especially when the suffering derives from someone else’s folly or malice. Unlike suffering that is due to our own sin, suffering at the hands of others awakens our sense of injustice. We find the situation intolerable, often refuse to make peace with it, and usually wonder what possible good could ever come from it. Part of being a Christian, however, is to expect unjust suffering for the sake of Jesus: Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus...

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Thoughts on Theology, Delivered Every ThursdayIn last week’s Theology Thursday, I posed two questions: why do lay people who are motivated to learn about theology so often give up the pursuit, and why do pastors who love theology so often fail to spread that love in their congregations?  In answer to the first, I blamed the size of the task and the pressures of modern life.   As for the second, the blame lies closer to home, with plenty to go around.  Pastors are at fault because they easily mistake half of the theological task for the whole.  Lay people are...

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Notes on Global Missions from New Hope Presbyterian ChurchLetting Missionaries Down By Not Giving?Quite a few missionaries have visited New Hope in the past year.  Several more will visit before the summer is out, including Robb and Shiela Warfield (on July 3) and Josh and Kristi (on August 7).  At the same time, we are sending missionaries out!  Gerald and Clay will accompany a team of New Hope adults and youth to Fairmont, West Virginia for a week of word and deed ministry.Some of these missionaries - mainly, those we are sending out - have requested that we support them...

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