Forgiveness is at the heart of the Christian faith, and this is never more apparent than during Lent. As we approach Good Friday and Easter, we necessarily reflect on the cross and its relationship to forgiveness. Jesus, we say, quoting Scripture, died for our sins, but exactly what that means can vary from tradition to tradition or, indeed, from Christian to Christian. When I was working on Making Sense of the Cross, I was struck by some of the contested views of the relationship between the cross and forgiveness. The substitutionary theory of atonement, for instance, suggests that the cross is the mechanism by which forgiveness is even...

Membership in the Christian Church of the first four centuries was not come by lightly. As an underground organization, the church had to scrutinize carefully every prospective member, and a prolonged period of probation was a requirement. This period would normally terminate with reception into the Church by baptism at Easter. The final period preceding baptism, Lent, was naturally the most rigorous. Candidates were required to fast in preparation, and to attend catechetical lectures and periodic examinations or “scrutinies.”    –Edward Horn III Lent. Among many Christian congregations it’s become something of a dirty,...

“Chuck Knows Church” is a fun set of videos produced by the Methodist Church’s General Board of Discipleship. Each one presents Chuck – he’s actually an actor by the name of Josh (don’t ask me why they didn’t just find a real person to talk about the church) – talking about one element or another of Christian faith and worship. Baptism, Parables, Potlucks 🙂 – Chuck takes up all these and more. In this episode, Chuck talks about Ash Wednesday, teaching or reminding us of a few of the essentials about Ash Wednesday. It runs just over two minutes, and so it may be a nice way to prepare...