In the ancient city of Ephesus, one of my favorite places in the world, you will find the Basilica of St. John. Here the “beloved apostle” John, the author of his eponymous gospel, is buried. One of the highlights of that historical site is the baptistery. As you can see from the picture, it is […]
Yearning for the one who heals
You would think, on the face of it, that a sermon series on healing might be met with a collective shrug. We live in an age where mortality rates are plummeting lower and lower and life expectancy climbs higher and higher as medicine advances. And those medical advances can be astounding, verging on the miraculous. […]
The power of persistent prayer
In our journey through the Gospel of Mark, we’ve become familiar with a certain adverb: immediately. The word is used about 40 times in the shortest gospel. There is a sense of urgency and action as we watch Jesus and his disciples move throughout the region. Immediately they went here, immediately they went there, immediately […]
What God says about mental illness
What is mental health? Where does mental illness even come from? What are Christians supposed to do about it? If you’re a Christian living in the United States, you can’t help but ask these questions. Around 47 million Americans suffer from some kind of mental illness—that’s one out of every five people. These are real people who are struggling with real […]
Is God really good? Because this is awful.
Twenty people came into a video booth after the worship services this past weekend and shared their stories of being in need of healing. They shared why they reached out to Jesus and how they were healed, just like the woman in Mark 5:24-34. I didn’t realize how much I needed these stories until I […]