…But how do we do that with someone we might think to be unworthy of our love and good deeds? How do you love a jerk? You might say take a look in the mirror. Humbly realizing that we’re all unworthy jerks . . . Continue reading →
Piety and Practice
New Resource Page: Reformed Piety
Theology, piety, and practice— regular Heidelblog readers and Heidelcast listeners will be familiar with that formula. In classic and confessional Reformed Christianity these three things have always been understood to be intimately, organically related to each other. Our piety flows from our . . . Continue reading →
Searching For An Aid To Piety?
Tending to the means of grace in public worship every Lord’s Day should be at the top of the list for anyone who wants to improve his personal and family piety. Further, people who are committed to spending more time in Bible . . . Continue reading →
The Psalm I Want Sung At My Graveside
To my friends, no I am not, as far as I know, in imminent danger of death. My enemies shall have to wait a bit longer. My reflections this morning are inspired by a series of posts at TGC including “The Song Scott . . . Continue reading →
Reconsidering The Offering As An Element Of Worship After Covid
Introduction: The Hypothesis Tested Way back in 2008 I asked the question whether the offering is an element or a circumstance of worship or neither? I argued that the offering is neither an element nor a circumstance and thus raised the question . . . Continue reading →
Another Way The Reformed Confessions Can Help Us If We Let Them
I am in the studio today to work on an Office Hours podcast for May so there is just time for a quick thought about another way the Reformed confessions can help the churches be more faithful. Continue reading
For Evangelical And Reformed Folk Contemplating The Canterbury Trail
A number of Baptists some Presbyterian and Reformed folk have announced in the last year or so that they have become Anglican. Continue reading
Criticizing Edwards On Religious Affections Does Not Lead To Dead Orthodoxy: There Is Another Way
In the wake of my latest essay, which cautions readers regarding Jonathan Edwards, has come questions about the role of affections and emotion in the Christian life. These questions signal how deep the Pietist tradition (see the resources below) runs in American . . . Continue reading →
Demons In The Digital Age
One of the myths that has been exploded in late modernity is that we Westerners are an “Enlightened” people, who have moved beyond demons, ghosts, and religion. We are not and we have not. I am not saying that we have not . . . Continue reading →
Of Icons, Wonder Years, And The Gospel
The Wonderjaar We are in the midst of a wave of iconoclasm (image-breaking), which reminds me of the wave of iconoclasm that swept through the Netherlands in 1566, the so-called wonderjaar. About how the story of this episode has been told Judith Pollaman writes, . . . Continue reading →
PCA General Assembly Rulings On Virtual Communion
For those who’ve inquired about any PCA precedent on digitally “administering” the Lord’s Supper, below is a pertinent string of excerpts from the Minutes of the 39th, 40th and 41st General Assemblies (2011, 2012 and 2013 in Louisville, Virginia Beach and Greenville SC). Continue reading →
Worship: Beyond Euphoria And The Charismata
In a recent essay Andrew Wilson writes: I consider the absurd antics of some of the paper-waving, foundation-faced prosperity preachers who appear on Christian television. I acknowledge that much new church liturgy fails to acknowledge the realities of sin and suffering, and . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Recovering A Lost Spirituality With Charles Telfer
There is a lot of vague talk about “spirituality” in the broader culture today and very little of it is genuinely Christian. Visit the “spirituality” section of Barnes and Noble and you will see I what I mean. There is another approach . . . Continue reading →
Growing Beyond Bi-Polar Spirituality Or Why You Should Be In A Confessional P&R Church
The Reformed faith, the Reformed confession, is more than five points on salvation (Dort). It is more than a set of doctrines. It is also a piety, a way of relating to God, and a set of churchly practices that grow out . . . Continue reading →
Prayer, Privacy, And Piety
When teaching his disciples about prayer, our Lord said: And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. . . . Continue reading →
What Passion City Gets Right And Wrong About The Sabbath
The last time we saw Atlanta Pastor Louie Giglio it was January 2013 and he was embroiled in controversy because he had been invited by President Obama to participate in his second inauguration. It had been discovered that Giglio held the biblical . . . Continue reading →
What Is Prayer?
Prayer consists in calling upon the true God, and arises from an acknowledgment and sense of our want, and from a desire of sharing in the divine bounty, in true conversion of heart and confidence in the promise of grace for the . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: The 21st Century Reformed Pastor And Piety
The 21st century Reformed pastor faces many challenges. He represents a minority tradition in North America and in most other places in the world. His church tends to be understaffed and under-funded. Then there is the daunting task of evangelizing his community. . . . Continue reading →
AGR: With Chris Gordon On “Still, Small Voices”
It is widely thought among Christians that God is still revealing himself to believers apart from Scripture. It is not at all uncommon for a Christian to say, “I believe in Scripture alone” (sola Scriptura) in one breath and “The Lord told . . . Continue reading →
One Great Difference Between A Covenantal Piety And The American Conversionist Alternative
Make no mistake. No one comes to new life and true faith apart from the sovereign, gracious, mysterious, wonderful work of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who hovered over the face of the deep (Gen 1:2) also gives new life to dead (Eph 2:1–4) sinners. You must be born again (or from above). The mistake comes when we identify that fact with a particular experience of praying a prayer, walking the aisle, or making a decision for Christ. We should all rejoice when someone is brought to new life, even if through irregular means (e.g., a Billy Graham Crusade or the like). It is not our business to tell the sovereign, free Holy Spirit where and when he may work. It is our business, however, to pay attention to what he has told us, in Scripture, to do and say and he tells us to pay attention to the “revealed things” which are “for us and for our children forever” (Deut 29:29). Scripture tells us that the Spirit ordinarily operates through the preaching of the gospel. Continue reading →