A year later, I counted 71 written meditations, meaning that I spent about five days refining and living in the context of each one. The entire project was incredibly enjoyable and fulfilling. I intend to revisit each meditation throughout the upcoming years and add some fresh ones.

I’m confident that God will use this project to bless others, so I published the Advent meditations on my site. Before the start of each subsequent season in the Christian calendar, I’ll post the reflections for that season.

I encourage you to follow along. As the calendar ticks through the year, you can join me in building this project into your spiritual life. Perhaps you will write some reflections of your own! Or you can choose titles from my Table of Contents and jump directly to them. Some of you will need fresh material to minister to someone, or to address your church or in some other setting. You now have 71 new meditations from which to find something relevant.

The way to start is to read Responsive Prayer Meditations. It tells what you need to know to take full advantage of the project, and it provides a link to access the “Advent season meditations.”

(Also, If you're a minister or worship leader and looking for Advent readings for public worship settings, please check out Advent Readings.)

Blessings, Tim

A subset of conservative evangelical Christians believes God wants them to exercise dominion over society by taking control of political and cultural institutions. Such far-right thinking is called dominionism.

• Dominionists believe that the United States once was, and should again become a Christian nation. They deny the Enlightenment’s influence on the founding of American democracy. (The far-left denies the Christian influence on the founders.)

• Dominionists generally do not respect other faiths or, sometimes, different versions of the Christian tradition. (The far-left typically rejects all organized religion.)

• Dominionists believe the Ten Commandments and biblical law should be the foundation of American law and that the Constitution is a vehicle for implementing biblical principles. (The far-left considers themselves non-religious and guided by natural law.)

Religious right-wings are not new. In the gospels, Jesus grappled with the first-century religious right. They were called zealots. They believed God wanted them to make Israel great again by taking back its sovereignty as the Jewish nation governed by ancient Israelite Law. Simon-the-zealot was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. Crowds around Jesus often pressed him to use his miraculous powers to break Rome’s control over Israel. The zealots called for a return of their nation’s sovereignty and had long expected that a Messiah would come to deliver it. Jesus knew that he was the Messiah, and he heard their calls. Instead of ushering in a theocratic state, Jesus went to the cross - and invited all people to follow him. In other words, Jesus understood and rejected dominionism.

So how does the Christian right-wing theologically justify dominionism? Check out Politics: The Way of Jesus.

Regards, Tim 

I am an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. Occasionally, someone asks where we fit among the Christian traditions. First, I ask if they are familiar with any church. If so, I start there.

Otherwise, I explain that we are a Holiness subgroup within Protestantism. Our sister traditions include Christian & Missionary Alliance (CMA), Church of God (Anderson), Free Methodist, Salvation Army, and Wesleyan Methodist.

If they want to go deeper, I explain the distinctives of the Christian Holiness tradition by walking them through Where Nazarenes Fit. 

Blessings, Tim

I needed an epiphany this Epiphany Season - a fresh strategy for living as a Christian among the snares of the world. By snares, I mean living in a world of unbalanced wealth, where lies pass for alternative facts, where racism is rising, where dysfunctional and corrupt politics prevail, and where we’ve degraded “our common home” to the precipice. 

Fortunately, God provided that epiphany.  To read it, click on Living Through Snares.

I know, this sounds like a really odd title. 

You probably already know that God hasn't revised his core characteristics in, well, forever! 

But in 2018 God revised my understanding. A year ago I posted a webpage listing two categories of God's characteristics: Greatness and Goodness. Last year, God showed me a couple of new ones: Glory and Beauty.

So I decided to revise the original post. It's available at Characteristics of God.

1. When did you start thinking about this romance concept?  
2. What's the big deal about Christmas and Easter?  
3. What is so valuable about humans that made God condescend so far?  
4. How can we possibly respond to such a passionate heart as God's?  
5. What roadmap can I offer others that will guide them into the romance?  

For readers unfamiliar with Yogi Berra, here's his 1954 baseball card (from my collection). He was a great catcher who played for the New York Yankees during the years of Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford. Yep, I have their cards, too.   

Yogi remains famous for his baseball skills and priceless quotes. Without trying to be funny, head-shaking Yogi-isms just popped out - and the world continues to laugh at them. They're bigger than baseball! For investing wisdom from 7 Yogi-isms, click on Yogi Berra on Investing.

-- Tim Isbell