Mike Wittmer

Month: February 2012

  • leap day

    In fifth century Ireland, women grew tired of waiting on their slacker men to propose marriage. St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick, who said that “single women could put a ring on it” every leap day. That is not a direct quote, but it captures the gist of his capitulation. Single women from Bridget to…

  • the assembly

    Jim Samra, pastor of Calvary Church and author of The Gift of Church, spoke to my class this week on the church. His main point was that the Greek term for church, ekklesia, which means “assembly” rather than “called out ones,” is deeply rooted in the Old Testament. God cut his covenant with Israel on…

  • mainstreaming homosexuality

    Last night I witnessed another significant step in our culture’s embrace of homosexual practice. You can tell a minority group has achieved cultural power when it unapologetically ridicules another minority group. And last night the homosexuals of Modern Family took aim at Appalachians, apparently the one remaining group that even enlightened liberals enjoy mocking. In…

  • Elijah’s doolittle

    Continuing the theme of Elijah, I am intrigued by Barth’s comment that Ahab’s great sin was passivity (CD IV/1, 456), and I wrote up an Our Daily Journey post about it. I wonder about lumping heretics with Nazis under the broad heading of evil, but 1 Kings 21:25 does say that of all the evil…

  • these are the days of Elijah

    Zach Bartels, a former student and the passionate pastor highlighted in Why We Love the Church (by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck), recently loaned me a copy of his first novel, 42 Months Dry. I didn’t get to it for a while, mostly because I treat fiction like my treadmill—I know it’s good for me…

  • true value

    I discovered an interesting piece of trivia during my reading on technology, and I thought it might have some homiletical value. You are welcome to use this illustration as it fits in your sermon or lesson, and as always, give productive feedback before I send it in to Our Daily Journey. And if you are…

  • the brotherhood of man

    I watched five minutes of the interminable Super Bowl pregame show, but the brief segment I saw included the cast of several NBC shows performing a Broadway song and dance called “The Brotherhood of Man.” In our day of gender inclusivity, when Bible translators worry that masculine pronouns might offend female readers, when professors tell…

  • Revelation

    The newest entry in Crossway’s “Preaching the Word” series is Revelation by Southern Seminary professor Jim Hamilton. Jim’s homiletical commentary will be a great help to anyone who is preaching or teaching through the book, or who just wants to study it for themselves. Jim deftly negotiates the numerous questions that swirl around this apocalyptic…

  • glory and love

    Last evening a student asked if I have any insight on whether God is primarily a God of glory or love. Apparently this was being discussed among the pastoral staff at his church, and he intimated it was being bandied about more broadly. In case someone else has an interest in this topic, here is…