Category Archives: Jesus

Jesus Welcomes You to __________

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Richard Heyduck

Hawkins, a town not to far from us, hit the news a few months ago when some started protesting a welcome sign. It wasn’t just a “Welcome to Hawkins” sign like you might expect to see in a small town. … Continue reading →

Posted in Jesus | Tagged | Leave a comment

The “We Need More Guns” Solution

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Richard Heyduck

The standard response of one side to horrendous shootings is, “We need gun control!” I’m not going to address that now. The standard response from the other side is, “We need more guns. If we had more guns, particularly more … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Jesus, Stanley Hauerwas, Violence, War | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A Hayekian Account of Atonement

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Richard Heyduck

What an odd thing to imagine, a Hayekian account of the atonement! From what I’ve seen, Hayek was not a Christian and didn’t write theology. Why then would I imagine that any of his insights might be of use to … Continue reading →

Posted in Atonement, Jesus, Theology | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Responding to Enemies

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Richard Heyduck

What do we do with our enemies? Many of us in America don’t have any serious enemies. Sure, we have people who annoy us from time to time, maybe even rivals in sports, business, or relationships. But enemies who actively … Continue reading →

Posted in Forgiveness, Islam, Jesus, Violence | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Jesus, (Not a) Friend of Sinners?

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Richard Heyduck

Though our experience in church might incline us to think so, this is not how Jesus operated. Jesus intentionally, strategically, and lovingly, spent time with sinners. If we’re going to walk in the way of Jesus, i.e., be Christians, we’ll need to do … Continue reading →

Posted in Friendship, Jesus, Sin | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Bringing People to Jesus, but Unintentionally

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Richard Heyduck

John 8 has a story about the teachers of the law and Pharisees bringing to Jesus a woman “caught in the very act of adultery.” According to John (or, considering that this story was likely not part of John’s original … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Jesus | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Covenant Renewal in the Wesleyan Tradition, 1

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Richard Heyduck

Since the days of John Wesley, Methodists have sought to renew their covenant with God at the turn of the new year. Our church followed in this tradition this morning. I framed the covenant renewal with a message from Joshua … Continue reading →

Posted in Jesus, Spirituality | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

What the American Church Needs in 2015

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Richard Heyduck

I’m only going to mention two things here, not because I think the situation is really that simple, but because if we can get these two things right, most of the other things will fall into place. The first thing … Continue reading →

Posted in Jesus, Local church | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Dealing with Anger: Pessimism or Contentment?

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

In class today I showed the students Alain de Botton’s presentation of the philosophy of Seneca. I think Seneca (as interpreted by de Botton) is genuinely insightful. The richer and more successful we are, the more prone we are to … Continue reading →

Posted in Jesus, Philosophy | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Jesus and Culture

Posted on September 13, 2014 by Richard Heyduck

Yeah, I know; given the title of this post I could write just about anything. I’m only going to touch on one aspect here. Sometimes we complain about how biblical scholars give us a Jesus who looks nothing like us, … Continue reading →

Posted in Church & State, Culture, Ecclesiology, Ethics, Jesus | Tagged , , | Leave a comment