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“Why can you and I be as rich as kings? Because he became spiritually and utterly poor. Why can you and I be comforted? Only because he mourned; because he wept inconsolably and died in the dark. Why are you and I inheriting the earth? Because he became meek; because he was like a lamb before his shearers. Because he was stripped of everything—they even cast lots for his garment. Why can you and I be filled and satisfied? Because on the cross he said, “I thirst.” Why are you and I obtaining mercy? Because he got none: not from Pilate, not from the crowd, not even from his Father. Why will you and I be able to someday see God? Because he was pure. Do you know what the word “pure” means? It means to be single-minded, absolutely undivided, laser focused. So why is it that someday we will see God? Because Jesus Christ set his face like a flint to go up to Jerusalem and die for us (Luke 9:51).11 You and I can see God because, on the cross, Jesus could not. When you see Jesus Christ being poor in spirit for you, that helps you become poor in spirit before God and say, “I need your grace.” And once you get it and you are filled, then you are merciful, you become a peacemaker, you find God in prayer and wait someday for the beatific vision, to see God as he is (1 John 3:1–3). The beatitudes, like nearly everything else in Scripture, point us to Jesus far more than we think. PART TWO Reaching the People”
― Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism
― Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism
“George Herbert puts it so vividly in “The Sacrifice” when he depicts Jesus speaking from the cross. He says, “All ye who pass by, behold and see; Man stole the fruit, now I must climb the tree; A tree of life for all, but only me. Was ever grief like mine?” What is Jesus saying? Because Jesus got the tree of death, we can have the tree of life. Herbert is even more poignantly saying that Jesus turned the cross into a tree of life for us, at infinite cost to himself.”
― Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism
― Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism
“Terry Eagleton, the British literary theorist and critic, writes that “societies become secular not when they dispense with religion altogether, but when they are no longer especially agitated by it.”2 Eagleton believes Western societies are all headed in this direction at one speed or another. By his definition, a society in which there are still outraged atheists hostile to religion has not yet gone very far along the path toward being secular. Today we are seeing growing numbers of people who do not exhibit hostility to religion as much as indifference. The growth is in the “nones”—those who may not necessarily be atheists but who do not feel part of any particular religious institution or even tradition. They see no need to explore possible religious”
― Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism
― Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism
Phillip Howle’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Phillip Howle’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
791 books
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172 friends
784 books
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65 friends
832 books
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8 friends
402 books
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112 friends
278 books
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239 friends
341 books
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573 friends
391 books
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20 friends
171 books
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89 friends
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