Pastor Foltz is Pastor Emeritus of Saint James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, PA and author of the the Frontline Study content.
It’s Christmas time. Time out for one of my favorites. “The Oxen” by Thomas Hardy Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock. “Now they are all on their knees,” An elder said as we sat in a flock By the embers in hearthside ease. We pictured the meek mild creatures where They dwelt in their […]
After receiving the response to last week’s lesson, I decided to comment further on eating together as a mark of the church. It was an easy decision as I think it addresses one of the biggest spiritual problems in our time, the failure to eat meals together even with our own families. Certainly, as the […]
Another mark of the church evident in the Gospels is eating together. Luke points to that in Acts when he describes the early church worshipping at the temple on the Sabbath and sharing meals with each other in their homes on Sunday. That practice developed into the sacrament we know as the Eucharist, Lord’s Supper, […]
My intention was to draw up marks of a gospel community, intending to come up with characteristics of a community that followed Christ Jesus. It seemed simply common sense to begin with accounts of what Jesus himself identified as his message. It quickly became evident to me that a primary mark of Jesus’ message and […]
After reading the gospels, you realize the early church understood their relationship with the Risen Christ meant they could continue enjoying the community they shared with Jesus of Nazareth. Even a casual reading of the first chapters of Acts indicates this is what happened. The Jerusalem community is pictured going together for worship in the […]
I suspect most people think the role of the Church is to offer the means of grace made available by Christ Jesus. They associate this primarily with local gatherings where people worship but also with the larger, even international institutions to which these belong. Some might also speak of the Church as a theoretical body […]
Last week, I suggested there is a subversive aspect to the Gospel. “Counterculture” might be a better word as it conveys promoting values that are counter to those of the establishment but not necessarily working actively for its overthrow. Even better would be “prophetic” if it conveyed using Jesus’ teachings to critique society. Certainly, the […]
Let’s get back to defining the Gospel in preparation for thinking about what a Gospel Community might be in our time and place. I started doing that by trying to identify the common features in the four gospels and Paul. Then I got diverted when I naturally turned to John 3:16 which many regard as […]
I was surprised when last week’s diversion brought even more comments about heaven. After sharing them in conversation with friends, I‘ve decided this is a bigger issue than I thought. I was chided good-naturedly for not realizing there are plenty of Christians who do believe in a pre-Copernican concept of heaven. At least, they think […]
This one is late because I was caught off guard. I thought it would be easy to dash something off quickly, then I sent last week’s short essay to a list of people with a paragraph that included “Remember all four (gospels) were written before the Copernican revolution. Let me look next week at ways […]
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