Liturgical Church Services With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #18. We’ve now been to three churches with liturgical services (Church #5, 17, and 18), two of them Roman Catholic. I’ve struggled with the liturgy at all three. […]
We park a block from church. As we hike to where we hope the entrance is, we engage in conversation with a woman, seeming to make a good connection. I consider asking if we can sit with her, so we may follow her lead during the service. But she breezes inside and scurries away—so much […]
The sanctuary of this Roman Catholic Church is grand without being ostentatious. Modern and airy, it seats several hundred, with pews arrayed in four sections, each group angled to face the front. Behind the platform is an impressive marble wall with a large crucifix at its center. To one side, at floor level, is a […]
When I tell people we’re visiting Christian churches, they often assume Protestant and are surprised our plan includes Catholic gatherings. That’s where we head today, to our first Mass. The most noticeable difference is an ornate crucifix in the sanctuary. I’m pleased to see many lay people helping lead the service. There’s a nice range […]
Many Christians Include the Books of the Apocrypha as Part of Their Scripture The book of Revelation ends with a severe threat to anyone who would add to it, that God will afflict that person with the plagues mentioned therein. Interpretation Error Though the warning clearly applies to the book of Revelation—“the words of the […]
The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church By Diana Butler Bass (reviewed by Peter DeHaan) If you follow the media at all, you have likely heard of the demise of interest and attendance at mainline churches in the United States and abroad. Although there may be some truth in that assessment, it is only […]
The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why By Phyllis Tickle (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)The subtitle to The Great Emergence provides a concise summary of this book’s content: “How Christianity is Changing and Why.” To respond to this statement, Tickle first explains what emergence is, then how we arrived at this point, and concludes […]
The Apocrypha is a group of Old Testament books that are not in all versions of the Bible, such as the modern Protestant and Hebrew Bibles. They are, however, part of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox versions of the Bible. Since much of Christianity deems these writings as holy and inspired, I […]
Between Two Worlds: The Spiritual Journey of an Evangelical Catholic By Mike Timmis (reviewed by Peter DeHaan) The subtitle of Between Two Worlds serves as an apt and accurate summary of what the book is about: “The Spiritual Journey of an Evangelical Catholic.” At first consideration, the phrase “Evangelical Catholic” seems to be a contradiction […]
A guy who ponders deep theological thoughts recently shared two concepts with me: intentional Protestantism and accidental Protestantism. Both relate to the Reformation of the Christian church, some five hundred years ago. What about accidental Christianity or intentional Christianity? Back then, a group of people saw problems in the church and broke from it, forming […]