Dec 15, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
From Charles Wesley on the true meaning of Advent: Thou hidden source of calm repose,Thou all sufficient love divineMy help and refuge from my foesSecure I am while thou art mineAnd lo! from sin, and grief, and shameI hide me Jesus in Thy nameThy mighty name salvation is,And keeps my happy ... [More]
Dec 10, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
A reflection for the second week of Advent suggested by Dr. MacFarland based on Luke 2:1-20: The Christmas story is familiar to everyone. Christmas cards and other modern renditions give us glimpses of flawless Mary in pristine wrinkle-free clothing, a steady and unperturbed Joseph in an ... [More]
Dec 08, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
Jesus comes back into the world when we offer him a dwelling place in our hearts,When we accept him in his law of love, When we do what Mary did and conceive Jesus and carry him in us,So that he is able to become the heart of our life.Then he will love the heavenly Father with out whole heart, ... [More]
Dec 03, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
Happy New Year! Happy new Christian year that is. Sunday, Nov. 30 marked the beginning of Advent and the beginning of the new church year. Come now where we least expect you,Christ our hope and longing, come.Show us where we still reject youin the world you made your ... [More]
Dec 02, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
Happy New Year! Happy new Christian year that is. Sunday, Nov. 30 marked the beginning of Advent and the beginning of the new church year. Here is a reflection from Fr. Richard Rohr from the introduction to his booklet Preparing for Christmas to help orient our minds and hearts for a fresh ... [More]
Nov 19, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
For if you go poking about the world, intent on keeping the candle of consciousness blazing, you must be ready to give thanks at all times. Discrimination is not allowed. The flame cannot gutter and fail when a cold wind whistles throughout the house. Thanksgiving, thanksgiving. All must be ... [More]
Nov 18, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
I received an email from someone telling me about a movie that will be showing at the Starz Denver Film Festival this weekend, and I wanted to share it with all of you. Here is an excerpt from the email I received from the director of the documentary: The film is called "The Third Wave" which is ... [More]
Nov 17, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
My friend Ashley Denton travels around the world resourcing, training, and nurturing indigenous youth workers. On a recent trip to Nepal, a land where some 15,000 young girls are sold into prostitution every year, he discovered that, in the midst of what can feel like overwhelming darkness, God ... [More]
Nov 12, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
Dear Jesus, help us to spread Your fragrance everywhere we go.Flood our souls with Your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through us, and be so in us that every soul we&n... [More]
Nov 10, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
Place your soul before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance! And be transformed in your whole being into the image of the Godhead through contemplation! So that you may feel what His friends feel as they ... [More]
Nov 05, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
A fitting word for all of us who seek to think critically, pray fervently, and live theologically: Prayer and theology are inseparable. True theology is the adoration offered by the intellect. The intellect clarifies the movement of prayer, but only prayer can give it the fervour of the Spirit. ... [More]
Nov 03, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
At long last...the TV ads will cease...the yard signs will come down...the dinner time political phone calls will be no more...the votes will be counted, but will all the sound and fury signify nothing or something? After a season of politics our citizenship in heaven calls us back to ... [More]
Oct 29, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
November 1 is All Saints' Day which has been a feast day in the western Christian church since the 8th century. On that day the church celebrates the life and light of those whose devotion and holiness continue to inspire us in kind. Its origin is even earlier dating back to the 4th century ... [More]
Oct 27, 2008 by Howard Baker | 1 Comments
Dr. Tony Campolo will be lecturing in the chapel tomorrow at 11am. Here are some short quotes to pique your interest:When you talk about evangelicals, don't forget that a significant proportion of the evangelical community is African American. And most African Americans - well over 90 ... [More]
Oct 22, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
"If we are to be in Christ new creatures, we must show that we are so by having new ways of living in the world. If we are to follow Christ, it must be in our common way of spending every day. ...And if you will here stop and ask yourself why you are not as pious as the primitive ... [More]
Oct 21, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
Both the example of C.S. Lewis and his words have much to inspire and teach us about the childlike simplicity of loving Jesus and care for others in these complex times: "When The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was first published in 1950, it became an instant bestseller. Hundreds of ... [More]
Oct 15, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
"Self-knowledge is so critically important to us in our pursuit of God and His righteousness that we lie under heavy obligation to do immediately whatever is necessary to remove the disguise and permit our real selves to be known. Rules for Self-Discovery What we want most. What we think ... [More]
Oct 08, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
"We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. ...and it is by this prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for the act of coming." The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer, p.11-12. We love because He first ... [More]
Oct 01, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
Jackie Soister, a student, shares what the Spirit is stirring in her: Dr. Gordon McDonald called us yesterday at Common Ground to be attentive to our national (and international) economic crisis and its repercussions upon people; then to consider how we may respond as representatives of ... [More]
Sep 29, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
Rebecca Groothuis, a friend and wife of Dr. Doug Groothuis, shared with me her thoughts about Brother Yun's visit last week. I thought I would share them with you. Brother Yun at Denver Seminary, September 23, 2008 It was an amazing evening. The Seminary Chapel was packed out. People were ... [More]
Sep 26, 2008 by Howard Baker | 1 Comments
A few of us were talking after Br. Yun's messages this week and agreed that it appears that the Holy Spirit wants us to respond to the witness that we heard. In this week's Campus News I wrote that this could be "the beginning of a season of renewal; of radical openness to what our Lord the Spirit ... [More]
Sep 24, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
This past Tuesday evening the seminary chapel was filled to overflowing with people who came to hear Brother Yun's witness. As some of us agreed afterward, it seemed that the Holy Spirit was present in ways we have never experienced on campus before. Our prayer is that Brother Yun's visit is ... [More]
Sep 18, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
"We--or at least I, shall not be able to adore God on the highest occasions if we have learned no habit of doing so on the lowest. At best, our faith and reason will tell us that He is adorable, but we shall not have found Him so, not have ‘tasted and seen.' Any patch of ... [More]
Sep 15, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
Below is a prayer of Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Anglican pastor and author of Holy Living and Holy Dying, practical guides to Christian devotion that draw on biblical and patristic sources. One of my favorite quotes of his: The job of a pastor is to prepare people for a good death. "O ... [More]
Sep 10, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
1. Christianity is a way of seeing. 2. Great writing helps us to see clearly what we have always felt vaguely. 3. Beauty evokes the exquisite ache of nostalgia for God. 4. Contemplative spirituality is simply living wide awake. 5. The contemporary church is hobbled in its mission to the ... [More]
Sep 08, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
Thou hidden love of God, whose height,whose depth unfathomed no man knows,I see from afar thy beauteous light,and only sigh for thy repose;my heart is pained, nor can it beat rest, till it finds rest in thee.Thy secret voice invites me stillthe sweetness of thy yoke to prove;and fain I would; ... [More]
Sep 04, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
After a stirring Convocation the new academic year is officially off and running. Next week's Spiritual Life Conference will help ensure that we are "running" in the right direction and will not end the semester "running on empty." Our guest speaker for the two days will be Rev. Ian Cron who ... [More]
Sep 02, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
Blessed are you, O God,the One whom we seek together,the Life which is part of us all,the Truth and the mark of mystery,the Love and the Joy that makes us whole.Blessed are you, O God:Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:Blessed be God for ever! Crossing overInto the unknown,Crossing ... [More]
Aug 27, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
A hearty "Welcome!" to all of our new students and an equally hearty "Welcome Back!" to all of our continuing students. As faculty and staff we do not take lightly the commitment and sacrifice that each student makes in order to be formed into Christ-likeness and to be equipped for ministry. ... [More]
Aug 25, 2008 by Howard Baker | 0 Comments
In the midst of the complex challenges and unending demands of a new seminary year my soul yearns for simplicity and clarity. The introduction to Dallas Willard's The Great Omission has given me some help. Here are some nuggets:"There is an obvious Great Disparity between, on the one hand, the ... [More]
Join guest Dr. Peter Steinke as he provides insight and resources to pastors and church leaders for helping their congregations through conflict and hard times.
A community of professionals learning to live a life of gracious generosity that honors the life and work of Jesus. Featuring speaker Gordon MacDonald.
