Jeremy Riley: In a few words

On Christmas Day, I want to leave us with two pieces.  Chew on these two pieces and I wish you a Merry Christmas. 46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.     For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; [...]

67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, 68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71 that we should be saved [...]

I discovered something recently.  I discovered the power of a simple prepositional phrase.  Admittedly, that phrase is a little odd when you first hear it.  It is a little odd because we don’t speak like this too often.  And that phrase is something I try to orient my life around, a newfound reality, if you [...]

The master of stopping the spin, Bill O’Reilly, made the statement on his show recently that Christianity was not a religion but was a philosophy.  Previously I have corrected dear Evangelical friends who would state that Christianity was not a religion but was only a relationship.  So for the purposes of this post, I think [...]

I wanted to post my first teaser piece in this blog’s illustrious history (cue fanfare).  My seminary, Fuller Seminary, posted a piece I wrote for Advent last week.  Below is a brief excerpt from the post and I hope you visit the site for the provocative conclusion. ‘Last Christmas I was listening to my Christmas station on [...]

A few months ago I went to a symphony event up at the Hollywood Bowl.  John Williams, the famous conductor of many movie scores, was there leading the L.A. Philharmonic.  They played scores from Star Wars, E.T., Schindler’s List, and many other of his incredible works.  As I was sitting there soaking in the music, [...]

Kramer: Do you ever yearn? George: Yearn? Do I yearn? Kramer: I yearn. George: You yearn? Kramer: Oh, yes. Yes, I yearn. Often I sit… and yearn. Have you yearned? George: Well, not recently. I’ve craved. Constant craving. (From Seinfeld “The Keys” Season 3 Episode 23) As Cosmo Kramer would ask George Costanza, do you [...]

When I initially read that the city of Santa Monica was refusing to put up religious themed holiday arrangements this year due to a recent court battle I was mixed in my emotions.  Let me explain it in case you haven’t heard of this story. Santa Monica had a viewing area where different groups could [...]

Christmas means that God has given us nothing less than himself and his name is Jesus Christ.  Be unwilling next Christmas to settle for anything else.  Don’t order “just a piece of toast” when eggs Benedict are on the menu.  Don’t come with a thimble when God has nothing less to give you then the [...]

Waiting The holiday season could not be further from this word.  School programs, movies, lights, parties, shopping, and much more are so jam-packed into a few weeks that we really have zero time when it comes to reflection and catching our collective breath.  Even when we have time to sit, the air is filled with [...]