For All It's Worth

Uncovering the Life of Jesus: Six encounters with Jesus from the Gospel of Luke by Rebecca Pippert Rebecca has written a winsome and wise bible study on six encounters with Jesus in Luke’s gospel.  The bible study opens with a question that focuses the reader on the topic displayed in the passage.  Next, there is an outline of historical context that situates the student in the biblical world but also how this is seen today.  The passage is then listed alongside some inductive questions that flow straight from the text.  Near the end, there is quote that goes along with the major themes, sometimes from C.S. Lewis or other excellent writers.  What I most enjoyed about this study is how Rebecca gave us a glimpse into the initial audience of the text in the first century.  She is careful to get as thinking about what the initial readers might have thought of these stories, including their perceptions about the religious leaders of the day,...

Living Without Worry by Timothy Lane Every single person in the world worries about something.  The car, the kids, their spouse, all of these people and things give us cause for worry.  Yet, worry at its essence is crippling.  Timothy Lane seeks to dismantle the need to hold onto worry by looking at how peace should function in our everyday lives.  His new book, Living Without Worry: How to replace anxiety with peace is a foray into the need for peace when the overwhelming hand of worry strikes our hearts. For Tim, worry is fundamentally a function of idolatry.  He writes, “Worry is a sign that you have made something other than God your functional God (28).”  These things such as job, spouse, reputation, kids, and moral record can all at one time or another become an idol.  Tim sees these idols as becoming something we love too much (over-love) and so we fret and worry about them.  How do we get past these over-loves?  By ...

Preaching with Accuracy by Randal E. Pelton There is an overarching tendency in preaching to focus our entire sermons on one minor caveat in the biblical text that is not the big idea.  Focusing on the minors really does a disservice to our listeners because often it draws them away from the text to our own opinions.  Randal E. Pelton seeks to dismantle this focus on the minor issues of a text in his new book, Preaching with Accuracy.  In the introduction, he alerts readers to the course of his book, such that finding Christ- centered big ideas is not only possible but necessary for truly good preaching.  In the section on Cutting the Text, Randal helpfully gives us some key markers for identifying a text in preaching.  He commends us to identify the context that precedes if we are preaching in the middle of a story, also he asks us to notice the genre of a text (narrative, parable, poetry, etc.).  In identifying the big idea of the text,...

The One O’Clock Miracle by Alison Mitchell and Illustrated by Catalina Echeverri This wonderfully written and illustrated children’s book entitled The One O’Clock Miracle by Alison Mitchell and Catalina Echeverri is a real treat for those interested in a retelling of John 4 and the Royal Official’s son and his healing.  With illustrations reminiscent of the pictures in The Jesus Storybook Bible, illustrator Catalina Echeverri, the story of the Royal’s son comes to life.  The writing and illustrations in The One O’Clock miracle all hinge upon Jesus, not only that he healed the Royal’s son but that he was God’s rescue King, the Son of God.  How do the author and illustrator point to Jesus in the story?  For one, at many points in the story the royal official was out of breath, but he kept continuing on his path because he NEEDED to see Jesus and he MUST see Jesus.  The highlighted words bring out the necessity of the Royal official’s plight ...

Eyes Have I That See by John Julian A monk, priest and a scholar, poet John Julian has given us a breadth of wisdom here in a new collection of poems that gathers together old and new poems alike.  Julian founded the Order of Julian Norwich in 1985 and his poems exude that same quite confidence.  These poems span the time from his first ones, written in 1959 to the most contemporary, written in 2014.  Yet, these poems have a strength to them that comes from someone who has long pondered the mysteries of life, suffering, and faith. In the poem Incarnatus, Julian captures the profundity of Christ’s becoming flesh on the earth in a unique and forceful way.  He writes, Suffer, he said, but never cause suffering / Give, while the rest of the world seeks to take; / Die, if its needed , but never cause dying; / Love, with the knowledge that friends may forsake (49).”  The extending of grace, the giving of himself to and for others, and the love t...

Luther on the Christian Life by Carl Trueman Do we really need another book on the famous Augustinian monk from  the 16 th century?  Well, yes, if the book captures Luther’s genius from decidedly unique and formative perspective.  Professor Carl Trueman, in his new book, Luther on the Christian Life, does just that, by situating Luther in his historical milieu, locating his main theological theses, and providing a glimpse into Luther as pastor, calling all Christians to follow Christ in a world of upheaveal. What was it about Luther, especially post-1525, that radiates a sort of encouragement for Christians today?  Trueman writes, “As a theologian who was also a pastor, he was continually wrestling with how his theological insights connected to the lives and experiences of the people under his care. This gave much of his writing a distinctly pastoral dimension. Further, he was (for a theologian) unusually forthcoming about his own life and experienc...