Hi! I'm Jeremy, a twenty-something writer, thinker, and husband. With one foot in a political world and another in seminary, this is a place where I work through life.
Who I am: Born and raised in Southern California. Christ-follower. Political junkie. History lover. Book enthusiast. Writer extraordinaire. Stand-up desk guy.
I typically post two to three times a week. To make sure you get my latest posts, please subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe via email in the blog section. These thoughts are my own, and I hope you join me in this journey!
Gladiator, Braveheart, Glory, Patton, LOTR, Star Wars. You know, the usual suspects. If I need to feel inspired: Amazing Grace. If I need to cry like a baby during Christmas: It’s a Wonderful Life. Give me a solid story with good overcoming evil and I’m sold!
I’m all over the map when it comes to music. Jazz, Classic Rock, Classical, Swing, and Electronic are all my genres of choice. Music from Tchaikovsky to Duke Ellington, Zeppelin to U2, Glenn Miller to Daft Punk.
I came up with a list of 10 books that I have shaped who I am from both contemporary and classic literature. Please Understand Me, Surprised by Hope, Mere Christianity, Happiness is a Serious Problem, Four Love Languages, The Post American World, Blue Like Jazz, Team of Rivals, Farenheit 451, and Decision Making and The Will of God
About this Blog // Theology is more than just a stale ivory tower experience. Theology is the application of the Bible to all areas of life. My musings will be broad, touching everything from leadership to doctrinal issues to church dynamics to life issues. This is where seminary education hits the road and where the ivory tower is left vacant for the open public square.
Every Monday, I run a series on this blog that bring written prayers that I have found encouraging. It is my hope these written prayers will help encourage you at the start of each week and they might draw you closer to Jesus. You can find the whole collection here.
Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open,
all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid:
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
-The Anglican Book of Common Prayer
“The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17
The God of the universe is in the middle of your life. If you affirm the Christian faith, you know that we claim God became man and dwelled with us. Yet chew on the fact that throughout the history of God’s covenantal relationship with his people, “God with us” is terribly frightening. God with us makes us quake in our shoes, because God is so unbelievably holy, big, and other.
But then, something happened to change all of this.
As Eugene Peterson puts it: God moved into the neighborhood.
God experienced all that we wrestle with. He experienced unmet desires, pain, rejection, loneliness, sorrow, and death. Yet in his grace we are assured how he will rejoice over his children with gladness and will uplift us in much signing. He sits with us in our pain and glories in our triumphs.
I, for one, am so glad God moved into the neighborhood.
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him…
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made use kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory, dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 1:1a, 5b-6
Christians are a people rooted in Easter — rooted in the resurrection of Jesus and rooted in the hope of the resurrection of our bodies to future glory. However, Christians are also an Advent people. We grasp onto the Incarnation and how God-enfleshed suffered alongside humanity. We also cling to the hope of Christ’s Second Advent– when he will come again to right the unjust powers and principalities. When he will send the rich and powerful away empty and fill the portion of the powerless and poor, as the Magnificat reminds us. Until then, we wait for when he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Yes, as an Advent people, we wait. We wait in humility knowing full well that God’s time is not our time. We wait in humility knowing full well that we sound like fools, claiming for centuries that Jesus will return. While God might have waited for the fullness of time for the Incarnation of the Word in Bethlehem centuries ago, he also waits longing for all to come to faith.
Yet in all of this we wait. We wait.
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
__________
Photo Credit: BarrySherbeck via Compfight cc
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