Monthly Archives: November 2021

Contagious Courage

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Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. The common cold has proven to be uncommonly hard to defeat. For years, British scientists operated a research facility called the Common Cold Unit.  It finally closed in 1989 without finding the elusive “cure” that… Read more »

Hope is Not a Maybe

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Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. As the University of Chicago approached the winter semester of 1947, professor Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar proposed an advanced course in astrophysics. It didn’t attract much attention.  Just two students enrolled.  At the time, Dr. Chandrasekhar was… Read more »

The Hinge May Be Small

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Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. Eleven years ago this fall, the Buffalo Bills – at that time one of the least competitive franchises in the National Football League – had a golden opportunity to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of… Read more »

An Unhurried Life

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Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. Fifty years ago a pair of sociologists conducted a famous experiment at Princeton Theological Seminary. Dan Batson and John Darley invited a group of students to prepare sermons on the parable of the Good Samaritan… Read more »

Beyond the Minimum Threshold

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Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. Frederick Buechner has spent most of his life writing books to help open people’s eyes to the reality of God.  When his daughter was a teenager, she fell into the grips of anorexia to such… Read more »

Not a Chance

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Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. According to the principle of Chekov’s Gun, there are no extraneous details in great stories. The Russian writer Anton Chekov (1860-1904) advised young playwrights, “If you reveal in the first act that there is a… Read more »

Ordinary People

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Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. It’s not unusual for pastors to receive late-night phone calls. But this was really late.  It was 11:45 pm on a weeknight.  I was only a few years out of seminary and struggling to lead… Read more »

Hope is a Choice

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Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. Ten years earlier, Naomi had left her hometown of Bethlehem and crossed the border into Moab. She had been a wife and a mother of two sons.  The rest of her life lay ahead of… Read more »

Leaving Space for God

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Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. In the Bible’s library of 66 books, Ruth is distinctive. Along with Esther, it’s one of only two books named for a female.  No other book reserves the starring roles for two women (Ruth and… Read more »

Into the Wilderness

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Throughout November we’re taking an in-depth look at Ruth, the little book that helped pave the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world. Did you hear about the church that was frustrated with their new pastor? He loved to preach about baptism.  In fact, he explored the finer points of baptism the first ten times he stood in… Read more »