In I Peter the Church is richly described as a “chosen race,  a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his (God’s) own possession.”  And it has this identity “that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”  (I Peter…

At the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Romans after the greeting, Paul writes of the wrath of God.  He states, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” (Romans 1:  18 ESV)  Though God…

Below are some obstacles to Christian witness and conversion to the faith.  They are listed in two categories:  personal: emotional/intellectual and public/institutional.   Personal Factors Hardship and suffering in life including illness; loss of friends and loved ones, especially to death; disappointment in life goals; betrayal; anxiety from fear of…

The virtual environment has become pre-eminent in American life.  Young and old spend an enormous amount of time in front of a computer screen.  The word, virtual, in its use has become almost completely identified with the computer age in which we live.  Virtual is opposite the real physical environment. …

Some time ago, a young man approached me on the street to show me a picture of Christ rendered by Rembrandt.  He asked me, who is this?  Such was a perfect time for witness.  What would you have done in this situation?  We must always be ready to witness to…

The beginning of the Gospel according to Saint Mark does not include a birth story.  Accounts of the birth of Jesus are found in Matthew and Luke.  After the superscription in this shortest and oldest of the gospels are found passages from Exodus, Malachi, and Isaiah in the Old Testament…

Kensington Avenue and the surrounding area is drug central on the eastern seaboard and in America. It is an extraordinary experience to drive on Kensington Avenue from Frankford Avenue to Lehigh Avenue and beyond.  The tourist (and I do not take the term lightly) will see many wonders:  tent encampments; …

The word, gospel, is used eight times in Mark, only seven times if you exclude 16: 15 that by many scholars is not regarded as part of the evangelist’s work, but a later addition.  Its first usage is at the very beginning of Mark where our narrator announces, “The beginning…

When Saint Paul was visiting the Greek city of Athens during one of his missionary journeys, he noticed an altar dedicated “To the unknown god.”  In his address to the men of Athens on the Areopagus, he refers to this altar as testimony that the unknown god is in fact…

When I was a youth, two novels that I didn’t read until recently caught my attention, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, and Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger.  My interest in the first was stirred by an article I read long ago in Atlantic Monthly.  I had been repelled by…