Batch Batchelder
@batchbatchelder
Batch Batchelder
December 31, 2025 Christmas • Day 7
INVITATION — Psalm 100:1-2
"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs."
Context
After the sobering mortality theology of Ps 90, this is deliberately exuberant. Israel’s response to finitude is not despair but public joy. Worship not as refuge from
... See moreDecember 30, 2025 Christmas • Day 6
Redefinition of power
Psalm 148 never describes the horn’s form — only its effect.
Luke 1 supplies the form:
The horn is not a weapon.
Not an army.
Not political revolt.
It is a child in a widow’s arms in the temple.
Vulnerable upon vulnerable.
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INVITATION — Psalm 100:1-2
"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the
... See moreIf the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren’t appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we’d like to think.
Timothy Keller • The Prodigal God
in general, religiously observant people were offended by Jesus, but those estranged from religious and moral observance were intrigued and attracted to him.
Timothy Keller • The Prodigal God
To most people in our society, Christianity is religion and moralism.
Timothy Keller • The Prodigal God
the Romans called them “atheists,” because what the Christians were saying about spiritual reality was unique and could not be classified with the other religions of the world.
Timothy Keller • The Prodigal God
when Christianity first arose in the world it was not called a religion. It was the non-religion.
Timothy Keller • The Prodigal God
He is on the side of neither the irreligious nor the religious, but he singles out religious moralism as a particularly deadly spiritual condition.
Timothy Keller • The Prodigal God
He wants to show them their blindness, narrowness, and self-righteousness, and how these things are destroying both their own souls and the lives of the people around them.