Month: March 2015

I grew up in an intentionally non-liturgical church. That’s not to say we didn’t have a liturgy. It’s just that ours was not anything like the orders of service found in other churches (Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and even some Baptist) which observed the Christian calendar. I was probably in my twenties when I learned that Epiphany was something more than just a stunning realization. Lent was, to a rural Southerner, the past tense of loan. Palm Sunday may as well have been the first day of Spring Break in Panama City, Florida. It’s not that we didn’t believe that … Read more…

I’m finding it easier to praise God these days. And why not? Things are going really well for the Vickerys right now. We’ve been blessed with an opportunity to re-enter full time ministry with an amazing church, we’re in excellent health, our kids are all doing well, and just last night, we had a long-overdue dinner with two of our oldest and dearest friends. When the blessings are flowing, it’s easy to praise the God from whom they come. So does that mean that praise and prosperity share a proportional relationship — the more you’re prospered, the more you’re able … Read more…

Moses got one when he was 80. It took 40 years for them to find it, but the nation of Israel was given one. Jonah got one, too, and so did the people of Nineveh, even though he was reluctant to even tell them about it. Peter got his after his courage failed. Paul got one after theological failure. Apollos, after doctrinal failure. God even gave the Earth one back in the days of Noah. All of these people and millions more whose names we’ll never know got a second chance from God. Apparently, it’s His favorite gift. Have you ever wondered why? … Read more…

“We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.” That’s part of what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church (2 Cor. 1:9). Eloquent, isn’t it. Real. Raw. Authentic. “We felt a death sentence. In our hearts. We despaired of life.” It may even sound like someone tore a page out of your personal journal or hacked into your heart and wrote what they found in the Bible. Paul could write that way because he had been there. He had penned into his … Read more…

We chose that particular church because we figured it would be the place we were least likely to see someone we knew, or someone who knew us.  It was out of our driving pattern, distant from where most of our friends and acquaintances lived, and not a part of our religious tribe.  We wanted — we needed — to go to church because we wanted to stay connected to God.  But we were not ready to reconnect with God’s people.  That may be hard for you to read if you’ve never been there, but we were both pretty beaten up; … Read more…

Irony is the incongruity between the expected result of a sequence of events and the actual result. That’s how old Mr. Webster defines the word. I don’t remember who it was, but someone once defined definition as the imprisonment of an idea within a wall of words. Which is, itself, ironic. However you define them, ironies surprise us. Or sadden us. Sometimes, they shock us. And now and then, irony explodes with new meaning. The last few hours of Jesus’ life may possess that kind of incongruity. A friend and follower betrayed Jesus to his enemies. Then signaled his treachery with a … Read more…

My apologies for the recent FTP (Failure to Post). I aspire to share something at least once through the week and early every Sunday morning. Recent speaking commitments, travel and work have limited my time to reflect and write. Hopefully, we’re back on track with today’s post. Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, in our likeness.” So God created humans in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26, 27) What does it mean to be made in the image and likeness of God? And are … Read more…