Applied Theology

What I miss most about Christmas in Germany is the Christmas markets: Hot chocolate, candied nuts and Glühwein bonbons, baked fish in a roll or a plate of steaming soup. It is a feast for the senses, though unfortunately one foreign here in the States, forcing us to be creative in making the most of the season.

Over the next few weeks, I’d like to share some of our Christmas traditions with you. Advent and Christmas are my favorite time of the year, bar none. It is an experience of the all the senses, but it must start with God’s word.

Happy Thanksgiving! My family has much to be thankful for, even in crazy 2020. We definitely had to scale back the celebrations, but it was as enjoyable as I can remember a Thanksgiving being. Maybe you were able to spend the day with family, too. Or maybe you were alone, and the day passed with only constant reminders of that. But, Christian, you are not alone. Let’s look to the Scriptures for encouragement.

For the last few months I have been camping out in the gospels for my daily reading. I found that it helps me get to know individual books better if I read them repeatedly—who would have thought? Finishing Matthew, I was struck anew by Jesus’ obedience in the Garden of Gethsemane: obedience, not to the Father, but to the Scriptures. They are, obviously, one and the same, but the emphasis surprised me. Let’s unpack Matthew 26:52ff.

Being angry seems to be a virtue these days. There is no shortage of outrage and no shortage of things to be outraged about. I must admit that it wears on me, so I found C.H. Spurgeon’s devotional on “Wrath to God’s Glory” comforting.

November 4th, the day after the election here in the US, I drove to work. I noticed that the sun was still rising like it normally does. The laws of physics, like gravity, were also still functioning like normal. And the atoms and particles of the universe were still holding together, so Colossians 1:17 and Hebrews 2:10 were still true, which meant the rest of Scripture is also still true, like Psalm 97:1, acknowledging God’s reign over everything all the time.

503 years ago today, Martin Luther published his 95 theses that led to the Reformation. Also today—and for weeks leading up to today—people decorate their houses with spooky things and kids go trick-or-treating for candy around the neighborhood. Our family finds the former to be more worthy of celebration than the latter, so we started our own tradition several years ago to infuse meaning into the day. Here is how we celebrate Reformation Day.

As I mentioned in the introduction to the series, technology is not inherently bad. One area in which it shines is productivity. The key is to make technology work for you, instead of being a slave to it. To spend your time wisely, I recommend at least three pieces of software everyone should have: A calendar, a todo list, and a place to store content and documents. I will go over each in turn.

In Revelation 5, we find that Jesus is the one who is worthy to open the scroll with the seven seals, based on his work of redemption, prompting the multitudes of heaven to praise him in song: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Andrew Peterson’s “Is He Worthy” is based on this passage. All this came to mind when I was trying to deal with some strong and lingering pain last month.

For most of September, I took time off from writing to recharge. I intended to get away for a bit with my wife and family and enjoy fall. In some ways, that was successful; in other ways, it was not. But I do look forward to writing again! Here is a short report.