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On the Incarnation, a 24 day Advent reading plan
The Christian year restarted on Sunday with the first Sunday of advent, beginning a period of expectant hope in the second coming of Christ. One of my resolutions this Advent is to contemplate more the incarnation through the book On the Incarnation by Athanasius (298-373), one of the most important books in church history. The…
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The ESV TruTone Single-Column Heritage Bible : A Mid-Range Gem
I first started caring about how a Bible is made after discovering Bible Design Blog (now Lectio). Soon afterward I bought what became my daily companion for a decade, the ESV TruTone Legacy, my first Bible with line matching, generous margins, and a sewn binding. Many of those once-rare features are now common (sewn bindings…
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A Bible Built for the Daily Office: ESV with Apocrypha
I still remember last year’s daily office reading calling for 2 Maccabees 6. One line leapt out, “Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age.” I was following along on a podcast with no Apocrypha in hand and thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to read these passages…
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O day of peace that dimly shines
Sometimes familiar tunes with new words can be surprising. I had such a moment in 2017 at a remembrance service in St. James Cathedral, Toronto. As the first notes of the tune commonly associated with Jerusalem (Blake’s “And did those feet in ancient time”) rang out—a melody deeply tied to English patriotism—I was jolted from my reverie.…
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Belle (2021) as a metaphor for Worship
[Spoilers for Belle ahead] How do we worship when we don’t want to worship? What is the point of church? Why do we even need others as Christians? Early this year I watched the movie Belle in theater and have been playing with this draft in my mind ever since because I think that the climactic scene…
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Cast Away the Works of Darkness
Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his…
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Why Advent?
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, and I think more than any other year I remember, I welcome this season of the church. It is first week of a new year in the Christian calendar. I know not all my friends keep advent, so I suppose I should explain why it’s so important and…
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Unless Worship Is for Us, We Cannot Worship with Our Whole Heart—part 2
Our worship is almost always not biblical. By that I mean if you look at the psalms, a model of worship songs, the songs we pick often don’t line up. The reason for this is that the psalms are not an abstract regurgitation of God’s character and blessings. They are not only outwards towards God…
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Worship is about us-Part 1
For those who grew up singing Hillsong and Tomlin, we can be often reminded that worship is not about us. For example, in his song, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” Paul Oakley writes that “all this [worship] is for you, for your glory and your name. It’s not about me.” Similarly Tomlin writes “It’s not…
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A Word to New Students
Fall is just around the corner and school has started. Six years ago, I started university and since then I like to think I’ve learned quite a bit (and yet the more I learn, the more I realize just how little I actually know). Both in my faith, and in my knowledge of the world…
Defined Faith
dominus pascit me — the Lord is my Shepherd
Defined Faith 