by Stuart Strachan Jr. | Jul 14, 2020 | Jesus, Kindness, Sermon Illustrations
I started reading The Kindness of God by Catholic theologian and philosopher Janet Soskice. In her examination of the etymology of the word kindness, Soskice helped me see it for the first time as a strong virtue rather than a weak one. “In Middle English,” she...
by Stuart Strachan Jr. | Jul 8, 2020 | Church, Community, Ministry, Sermon Illustrations
One of the seductions that continues to bedevil Christian obedience is the construction of utopias, whether in fact or fantasy, ideal places where we can live the good and blessed and righteous life without inhibition or interference. The imagining and attempted...
by Stuart Strachan Jr. | Jun 30, 2020 | Enslaved, Freedom, Satan, Sermon Illustrations
My grandad told me a story once and that story became a light. A light that unlocks the dark and releases you into the land of a thousand suns. Apparently, so the story went, there had been a tropical snake, longer than the length of a man, that wound its way up the...
by Stuart Strachan Jr. | Jun 25, 2020 | Crisis, Culture, Identity, Judgment, Nations, Sermon Illustrations
All crises are judgments of history that call into question an existing state of affairs. They sift and sort the character and condition of a nation and its capacity to respond. The deeper the crisis, the more serious the sifting and the deeper the questions it...
by Stuart Strachan Jr. | Jun 22, 2020 | Book Reviews, Community, Scripture, Spiritual Formation
The Pastor’s Workshop is committed to bringing a variety of voices to this space in an effort to encourage and equip ministry leaders. The following book review is by Kayla Zowada. Kayla currently serves as a civil engineer in Colorado Springs, and in her spare time...
