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Ephesians 1:5 - ‘ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,” I’ve already written about the first two clauses/phrases (in English), so today we will think about “according to the good pleasure of His will.” I was just listening to a podcast ( Old School with Shiloh Brooks , highly recommended) where he interviewed Alex Jones (not that Alex Jones), the originator of the Hallow App. This gentleman is a tech entrepreneur and a devout Catholic; I knew it had Catholic connections because Mark Wahlberg and Jonathan Roumie are the spokespersons. He spoke of how meditative prayer changed his life and brought him back to the faith of his childhood. The point of Old School is to discuss a usually famous book. This episode discussed the wondrous Brothers Karamazov , and I was reminded it’s time for me to read it again. I bring this up because Alex Jones said that his meditative prayer process was to focus on a ...

In this case, we, under Trump, are doing what should have been done 47 years ago.   They took our citizens hostage. That is enough, and we've endured the Islamic Republic's nonsense for decades.  I hate war, having lived through many, but Iran is a core enemy.  I've had the news on all day. By 4:00, we are learning that 40 of the top leaders are dead. This should mean that the theocracy (so-called; God had nothing to do with it) is over.  Of course, there are many true believers in whatever they were preaching, but hopefully the Iranian people will desire rule of law, justice, representative government, and a non-Muslim republic.  I hope it is better for the non-Muslims than Turkey is. I pray the gospel is freely dispersed.  I hope and pray these people have better lives without mass murders. 

 I did warn you that these posts for Lent would be a slow walk through Ephesians  1:4:  just as  He chose us in Him  before the foundation of the world, that we should  be holy and without blame before Him in love, We have the cause and effect, or the choice and the result, maybe really the choice and the reason for the choice:   that we should be holy and without blame . . . "  Whoa. Wait a minute. That means nothing is held against us spiritually. "God is not going to get you for that one." Our overacted consciences do not need to wallow in despair or self-doubt that God will change His mind about us, nor do we need to spend time foolishly expecting judgment for forgiven sins. [Human consequences are another matter. I don't think the Prodigal got the money back he wasted.] Romans 5:1 should finish this discussion: Therefore there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

 5 he predestined us [ b ]  for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,   6  to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved My last post was a dig at evolution. Now we'll go in the opposite direction and talk about theological predestination! So, did the Godhead choose us, a fortunate portion of the human race, to be redeemed and left out the majority of others, or do we get to choose to follow Jesus and the path for us is marked out: that we will be adopted and live to praise God's glorious grace? Does it matter? Apparently it does to a lot of people. I used to be in the first camp, and now I am not so sure.  But from my own experience I have to say I had very, very little to do with "the choice." I was in the place to hear the gospel in a way that it made me realize I was a sinner and not such a good person as I thought. That moment in time is still very real to me...

 Now that I am retired and in my eighth decade (!) I think a lot about cognitive decline, especially since I plan to write ten or more novels in the coming years.  Two days a week I watch my granddaughter, who is the light of my life. Apparently, it's good for my brain.  https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2026/01/grandparenting-good-for-brain The world needs to make babies! It seems the conservatives and religious are the ones populating the world nowadays, but so be it. Babies are the reason we survive as a species. Of course, some leftists don't want us to survive as a species, an interesting take on the whole evolutionary idea of the push to survive and spread our genes. I'm not an evolutionist, and I am so tired of supposedly conservative writers framing all human behavior as stemming from something monkeys or rats did billions of years ago. Come on, people. You say you are conservative and are buying into the world view of progressivism when you do that. Like Ti...

 Reading an interview with Steward Brand, who started The Whole Earth Catalog and apparently a lot of other future-oriented waves of thinking.  He quotes Dylan (Bob Zimmerman, I assume). and add his thought. "he not busy being born is busy dying,” is how I think about learning. In retirement, I think that will be my motto (not mantra; I'm not Hindu or Buddhist).

 Just so you know, some of these writings are from my journal over the last two months as I work through Ephesians. That's why they move slowly. I am still reflecting on Ephesians 1:3-14.  The intimacy with God that the apostles' writing and that Jesus' words in the gospels assert is . . . I don't know the word. Mystical, mysterious, yet at the same time presented as "quotidian" reality. I like that word, but we can substitute "daily" for it. The intimacy which is so intense and blessed and awe-inspiring is not a "big event, come to a revival and get slain in the Holy Spirit every few years" type of thing. "I am in Christ and Christ is in me today and it is my job to turn daily to that reality and its benefits and practicalities. For me, the first benefit is the access to fruit of the Holy Spirit and the basic practicalities is my need for patience--not just tolerance or resignation--but true patience that God is working in the mundane...

I am going to start another series called "Serious Reading." These will include thoughts on reading, especially in the online world. I know that the Internet has diminished my reading because I do so much of it on screens rather than on the much-preferred (for understanding and memory) paper medium. I need to get back to more "book" reading v. iPad or Kindle or computer reading. I know better.  The real point of Serious Reading will be to read serious and difficult books, and I really want to read Middlemarch. It is a daunting book for the modern reader, but it offers treasures. I have only really read the Prelude so far, which I have posted below.  Middlemarch is basically about a young woman, Dorothea Brooks, who has high ideals and is willing to, at least early in life, forgo the love of a younger man for a husband to marry a man who strikes readers today as pretentious, sluggish, boring, and not very passionate for a young woman, to put it mildly. He turns out t...

 It is very hard to move on from Ephesians 1:3-14, so I won't yet. It is one long sentence in the Greek; in my English translation the translators broke it up to three sentences. Again, I post the passage: Blessed  be  the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly  places  in Christ,  4  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,  5  having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,  6  to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He  [ a ] made us accepted in the Beloved. Blessed us with every spiritual blessing int he heavenly places in Christ. Observations: These are not future, but now.  There are many of them and in this long sentence Paul "piles them on" to show how overwh...

  Friends, go now in peace. Imagine all that can be. Hope more than it makes sense to do so. Honor all and love all. Have courage. Know that this life of faith is risky, but you do not go it alone So get on with loving and serving the Lord. The grace of our God goes with you, this and every day. Amen. Cited by Hannah Anderson in The Dispatch Faith.

  One of my favorite phrases in the Bible (well, the AV/old KJV) having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,  6  to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. "Made us accepted in the Beloved" is a wonderful, mysterious, abundant, fulfilling, promising phrase, although it may be a poetic paraphrase. Literally it is " bestowed grace (favor) upon us." Which should be enough. The "Beloved" is the Son, whom the Father loves; we are part of "the package" now. As Jesus is the Son, we are adopted as children by Jesus Christ to God the Father. If we sit and soak in how much love and care and grace this is, we will get off our self-absorption and pity parties, I think. That sounds cold; I speak for myself.  As I always say, Lent is not about giving up something, but looking toward something.

I am a massive fan of Baroque painting and sculpture. There is nothing like it; it was the height of Western art.  The term "accidental baroque" is a photograph that resembles the composition, lighting, and color of a Baroque painting.  Take a look:  https://culturedump.substack.com/p/the-accidental-baroque-effect  

 Thought about the word Lenten. This is used in Hamlet to imply sad, repentance, morosity. As a person from a different tradition who chooses to explore Lent as a pathway to the cross and resurrection, I do not have any of those background feelings of obligation, false fasting (giving up chocolate, or starting to smoke in February so you can give up smoking), or superficial penitence. I see this as preparation and a time to focus.  A former student who is far too ardent, which can also be translated as intolerant and overcritical of non-Reformed traditions, posted something about how Ash Wednesday was against Jesus' statements about washing your face during fasting. I pointed out to him that 1. Ash Wednesday is about "repenting in dust and ashes" and only lasts a day, and 2. the priest puts the ashes on. Not something I do, but I don't appreciate unfounded criticism of others who are practicing their conscience. If anything, as I have aged, I see the church as far mor...

  Joshua Harris , former pastor and author of 'I Kissed Dating Goodbye', says he may have overreacted when he publicly left the Christian faith in 2019. He reflected on how personal upheaval coincided with his deconstruction, making it easier to walk away when his life no longer aligned with conservative Christian expectations. Harris also described how his faith had long been intertwined with Republican politics. When Donald Trump reshaped the GOP, he began questioning not only his political beliefs but also his religious convictions, viewing the moment as one of hypocrisy and isolation. However, after deconstructing, Harris realized he had carried the same black-and-white fundamentalist mindset into his new “evangelical” community, becoming just as reactive and influenced by online algorithms as before. Now, Harris advocates for a more thoughtful and nuanced approach to faith. He warns against emotional reactions tied to political identities and encourages people to slow down...

  Blessed  be  the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly  places  in Christ,  4  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,  5  having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,  6  to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He  [ a ] made us accepted in the Beloved. I will be revisiting this one for a few days.  Blessed be God who has blessed us with blessings. We are blessed by a God we must bless.  How does one bless God? Isn't that His job? The Greek Word is euloghtos. Logos speak, eu, good. To speak good of God, in the most basic form.  He speaks (and therefore does) good over us. His logos is reality.  Our version is to praise God, something we sp...

Pope Leo wrote of Lent 2026:  "I would like to invite you to a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor. Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves. Instead, let us strive to measure our words and cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities. In this way, words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace."   I am not Catholic and the role of the Pope (and Mary, and sacraments, and the Eucharist) are a point of disagreement for us, but these words are wise. Fasting from overuse and abuse of words makes a lot of sense spiritually.

 I will be writing responses to succeeding verses in the book of Ephesians over the next 40 or so days until Resurrection Day.  Ephesians, unlike Corinthians and Galatians, is not written to address a certain problem in a church. It is therefore more theological and I guess I would say positive in tone. We read of our calling and posture or placement as believers, how we exist as part of a holy temple being built to God's glory, and how nothing now should stand in the way of fellowship across cultures (focused on Jew/Gentile).  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,  To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:  2  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It starts simply.  Note that Paul calls them faithful in Christ Jesus. He knew this church, or really collection of house churches, well from evangelizing there for close to two years, perhaps longer. I visited Ephesus in the fall on my tri...

 I will send you in this direction:  https://rabbitroom.substack.com/p/ash-wednesday-a-heart-grief-rentlanier?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3347135&post_id=187769336&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2pwl1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email   I just officially joined The Rabbit Room. I have been a lurker on the edges for several years. A guest on my podcast yesterday encouraged me to join (Joyce McPherson).  The link posted above is a wonderful reflection on Ash Wednesday, and I am posting it as someone who has never observed the day as determined by the Catholic Church 1400 or so years ago. But I see the hold such a "ritual" would have on Christians: to visit one's faith community, to submit to the somewhat awkward and embarrassing ritual  of having some black substance smeared on one's forehead and having it seen in public afterward, all to be reminded of sin, repentance, death, and the end of life in thi...

 Just thinking. I'm reading complaints that Bad Bunny, the rapper, is going to sing the half time show at the Super Bowl in Spanish. What an outrage. Imagine, singing music no one can understand in the first place in another language.  So many thoughts.  The Super Bowl is kind of an outrage in general. The commercials, the hype, the violence of football, the manufactured community over a game that has no bearing on 99% of the lives of those watching it. I'm avoiding it, as always.  Now, I don't know Bad Bunny from Bugs Bunny, but questions for him: Why does Bad Bunny, who has a real name of course, a good ol' 4-part Spanish one, go by the name Bad Bunny if he only raps in Spanish?  Shouldn't his name be "Conejito Mal"? (Bad Little Rabbit).  Since he raps in Spanish, it wouldn't be easy to translate raps into English. They would be very different songs because of the rhythm of Spanish and the culturally embedded meanings in rap in general.  Why did the ...

Tom Klingenstein on Higher Education  Although I am reluctant to "buy into" the views of a person with his connections, on this topic I think he has something to say. I have lived and seen some of this, but at the same time this essay is very much oversimplified. Higher Education is not a federal government thing, really, except in terms of student financial aid (which controls A LOT of what we do). It is run by state systems (Georgia has two), private boards, and religious denominations/Catholic Church.  John Dewey's and the German model did have a lot of input toward our current system of education, but so did American pragmatism (workforce development), specialization, growth of the federal government with its tentacles into everything, and the accreditation system (boy, I can talk about that!) There are attempts to return to a "purer" higher education model. They need either independent funding or high tuition, but they are coming to fruition, such as New Co...

Russell Moore on Assisted Suicide Beautiful job. 

I'm sick of that creepy perv Jeffrey Epstein.  If he was your neighbor and not rich and did those things, you'd report him in a heartbeat.  But he was rich (why, will we every know?) and he's supposed to be the object of our attention.  Gosh, he's sickening.  And yet I'll probably read something about him today.  Even more whining about Trump is preferable to this pornography. 

From  https://www.millersbookreview.com/p/how-long-should-this-sentence-be?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9817360e-0427-42cc-8cb1-5cff0ff9351d_1920x1346.jpeg&open=false   I have stopped buying books on writing; I have some of the really good ones. I've been asked to write one myself, but I don't need to choke the world with another book on writing, to paraphrase Annie Dillard. Everyone wants to find the secret sauce, and it doesn't exist in a recipe. It exists in the writing, the practice, the WORK.   The question isn’t how many words a writer employs but how clearly those words relate to the core. Length doesn’t cause problems. Muddled thinking expressed in clumsy writing does. Give a writer 100 words to build a sentence, and they won’t automatically become Faulkner, anymore than limiting a person to 15 makes them Hemingway. The sentence serves the thought and desired effect, not the other way around. You can pile clause up...

 I, for some reason, watched The Night Manager, a series from about nine years ago. I think I was going through a John LeCarre phase. Anyway, I got hooked on this spy story (as I am on Slow Horses but will probably pry myself off of it). The plot is too complicated, but let's just say a British veteran, working the night shift in a Cairo motel, gets recruited to work for British Intelligence to bring down an arms dealer who covers his work with the patina of a peace-loving NGO. He's vile and mean and ready to destroy nations for a buck. Very plot-driven but the main character is charming and you root for him. (route?) So, when the second season finally came around, I'm watching. And I'm disappointed. The same villain is back at it. Come on, did Hugh Laurie need something to do? I guess so. He was too trusting in the first series. Second disappointment, spoiler; the antagonist, a Colombian with his own charity, is the son of the the first one. Too cute, too easy, but it ...

This is what I have been trying to say, less well.  It was posted by the former president of "my" college, where I taught 21 years.  Worth a read and some methodical reflection. The best comments I have read on the subject Written by James Bell I’ve waited to speak about the recent tradegy surrounding ICE, the protests, and the killings because as a pastor, it feels like there is a new moral outrage demanding immediate commentary almost every week. But immediate reaction is rarely the same thing as wisdom. So I have taken time to read, to listen to people I disagree with, and to think. And what I feel most is not just anger. It is sorrow. The Hebrew word for justice is mishpat (מִשְׁפָּט). Mishpat is uncomfortable in polarized cultures because it refuses to fully side with anyone. It critiques the right when authority crushes mercy. It critiques the left when compassion ignores responsibility. Justice answers to God, not to movements And mishpat is exactly what we are strugg...

  ‘ O look, look in the mirror, O look in your distress: Life remains a blessing Although you cannot bless. ‘ O stand, stand at the window As the tears scald and start; You shall love your crooked neighbour With your crooked heart.’ — W. H. Auden A (sort of) Christmas Poem six weeks late. But it's by Wendell Berry, and I think I like his poetry better than his fiction. This one is "Sabbaths." Remembering that it happened once, We cannot turn away the thought, As we go out, cold, to our barns Toward the long night’s end, that we Ourselves are living in the world It happened in when it first happened, That we ourselves, opening a stall (A latch thrown open countless times Before), might find them breathing there, Foreknown: the Child bedded in straw, The mother kneeling over Him, The husband standing in belief He scarcely can believe, in light That lights them from no source we see, An April morning’s light, the air Around them joyful as a ch...