Ben Makuh

Dark Gethsemane Flooded with Light

April 11, 2014

About a month ago I had the pleasure of reviewing Lent to Maundy Thursday, an album by local band Page CXVI. As part of their Church Calendar project, that album set the Lenten season to music. It's a lush, reflective album that has helped Lent be a…

Tags: eastergood fridaylentmusicpage cxvi

A Plea to Pastors: Compress Your Sermon Recordings

March 18, 2014

Podcast sermons are a thing now, and people listen to you preach on their morning commutes. How neat is that? Let me tell you what is less neat. Because pastors can go from yelling at the top of their voices to whispering the next moment, this…

Tags: churchcompressionpodcastrecordingsermon

Lent to Maundy Thursday

March 3, 2014

Page CXVI (a reference to p. 116 in The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis) is the name of a local Colorado band that fills a rather unusual niche: finding and repainting older hymns. They have released four albums of hymns, an album of lullabies, and are…

Tags: beautifullentmaundy thursdaymusicpage cxvi

Raising Our Own Affections

January 10, 2014

I've been reading Bob Kauflin's excellent Worship Matters this morning, and this line particularly struck me: When we fail to demonstrate delight and satisfaction in God, we're not only dishonoring God, we're disobeying him. More than anyone else on…

Tags: affectionsbob kauflindelightgospeljonathan edwardsjoyworship

The New Creation

January 8, 2014

Jared Wilson writes this penetrating and insightful connection between Genesis 1 and you and I: In the beginning, God created my body and mind. But my heart was without form and void, and darkness was over my soul. And the Spirit of God was hovering…

Tags: devotiongenesis 1gods gracegospeljared wilsonnew creation

When Half Spent was the Night

December 21, 2013

This Advent season I've been musing on the unexpectedness of the arrival of Christ. It's really quite curious that God should find it fitting to come to earth as a screaming, wriggling, blood-covered baby who couldn't even hold up his own head. It…

Tags: adventchristchristmasjesusunexpectedwisdom of solomon

The Psalms: Language for All Seasons of the Soul

December 13, 2013

The Psalms are an odd bird in the biblical canon; not only do we have trouble in referring to them (is it Psalm 32 or Psalms 32?), we're not even really sure what to do with them content-wise. Are they supposed to comfort us? A mere expression of our…

The Numbers Game

November 2, 2013

Mmm. Well said, John Brown. Well said. I know the vanity of your heart, and that you will feel mortified that your congregation is very small, in comparison with those of your brethren around you; but assure yourself on the word of an old man, that…

Tags: caringchurchfaithfulnessfruitfulnessnumbersshepherding

Worship Leaders, We are not Rock Stars (review)

September 3, 2013

DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review. The modern church is an interesting paradox. We've become cooler, more flashy, and more attractive so that those who were bored and uninterested by the…

Tags: book reviewchurch musicpastorrock starstephen millerworshipworship leader

Never Did He Fail

August 7, 2013

His cure was wide, with houses far asunder; But never did he fail, in rain or thunder, In sickness and in mischance, to visit all, The furthest in his parish, great or small, Upon his feet, with staff in hand for aid. -Chaucer, Canterbury Tales

Tags: canterbury taleschaucerintegritypastoral carepost format quote

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