Featured Articles
Play: From Usefulness to Belovedness
To bear God’s image is not a description of capacity. It is a description of relationship. Human beings are made to reflect God’s character, to live before God’s face, to be addressed by God’s word. That calling does include action, but it does not depend on a neat list of achievements.
Featured Articles
How Reading Matthew—And a Professor’s Smirk—Changed My Life
I spent a full semester during my doctoral program in a supervised study of the book of Matthew, and I can confirm from my experience that you will most certainly get to know Jesus there. The question is whether you’ll like what you find. I found the experience horrifying and life-altering. After completing a master’s degree in divinity and serving in pastoral ministry for six years, I found a Jesus in Matthew I’m not sure I recognized.
1948: The Christmas I Grew Into a Man
That conversation transformed my muddle into stark clarity. Belief was the key, and I was a believer. The next day, I sought out Dov Wartofsky
Our Attention Is All We Have
If industrial fracking sends pressurized liquid underground to loosen and harvest fossil fuels, “attentional fracking” does the same thing to our minds. Every algorithm trying
Todo Es Sanctus: Every Moment Holy
Total dependence on others for my daily care stripped away ego and any sense of agency. I was immobile, unable to have a shower or
Brooding Upon the Waters
The God of Grampa’s living room was dour—though, to be fair, the light that poured in through the picture window—that illuminated the whole scene—had a
“Candide” and the Car Wash
I suppose many attitudes surround people’s work. I can truly say that I enjoyed almost all the jobs I had. Even “humping” freight on the
Meeting Big Brother at the ICE Office
Not long ago, I was part of a group from our church that accompanied Javier to the local office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Latest from the Blog
Daily blog by our regular bloggers & guest contributors.
Long-awaited Messiah and Hope of the Gentiles
Matthew’s infancy narrative suggests that in Jesus deep divisions can be mended. There is hope in Matthew’s message: that the unity of the church can
Gratitude for Those Among Us
The Minnesota immigrant communities are making contributions that make our neighborhoods and our nation a better place. You could really benefit from meeting these Ethiopian
Amen: So Let it Be
The warmth inside right now reminds me of the intimacy of “the second service,” or Sunday night worship, sixty years ago when I was a
To Make You Feel My Love
Where do poets receive their inspiration? Even the word, inspiration, indicates some infused light from the Spirit.
The “Gospel” of the Vengeful Christ
“MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
Happy New Year, 2026!
We should not deny the wonder, and realize that we are saying something about God that we don’t understand when we say that today is
Exercising My Voice
I’ve run through more than a half dozen openings and a similar number of themes for this piece, the first I’ve written for Reformed Journal,
The Best of the Reformed Journal, 2025
Today we’re going to take a look at The Best of 2025 in the Reformed Journal. There’s really no way, of course, to evaluate “best”
Reviews
The Spiritual Practice of Reading
As I read, I kept thinking of magical reading moments in my life.
Alone: More Than a Weight-Loss Show
Alone provides an interesting and subtle contribution to a broad critique of the American dream.
Reconciliation Ecology: Reconsidering Restoration
The problem with restoration ecology is that, although populated with dedicated researchers and practitioners, it struggles to make its case in the broader North American
Growing Up In the Crevice
It felt like a betrayal of Christianity to have an “inkling that there could be more than one pathway to the Infinite.”
The Task of Forgiveness and Redemption
Confession is for humans. It’s a human practice to help us deal with
the shame. Confession’s not for God’s sake.
You Really Can
Ayers draws upon a vast knowledge of other great Christian thinkers; on art and music and literature, and what I can only imagine are a
Standing Closer to Suffering: A review of Everything is Tuberculosis
A tuberculosis outbreak began in the Kansas City, KS area in January of last year (2024). The outbreak is ongoing, with seventy confirmed active cases
Poetry
Preliminary
My sons are on a mission, wielding sticks and nixing iridescent bubbles …
Remorse Code
I used to want you to understand all of it: the dripping roof, stalagmites rising up like dandelions …
Dwell
In the future we will live in pods of reclaimed wood and very white bed-linens …
Passing the Peace
On good weeks it happens twice. Once on Sunday morning, sunlit sanctuary …
Bearing Witness
ICE arrested someone on my block. Walking my dog, I saw the witness first …
Be opened
to the absence of your own voice filling your inner silence …
Podcasts
“Preliminary” by Steven Searcy
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews Steven Searcy about his poem “Preliminary.” Steven is the author of Below
“Dwell” by Hannah Notess
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews Hannah Faith Notess about her poem “Dwell.” Hannah is a poet
“Be Opened” by Deb Baker
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Deb Baker about her poem “Be Opened.” Deb lives in New
“A Famine of Words” by Steven Peterson
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviewed Steven Peterson about his poem “A Famine of Words.” Steven is
“After Denise Levertov’s Essays” by Caroline J. Simon
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews Caroline J. Simon, PhD, about her poem “After Denise Levertov’s Essays.”
“On Absolution” by Lila Tindall
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Lila Robinett Tindall about her poem “On Absolution.” Lila is