Nielsen’s Nook

Relating to Prayer

An eerie thing happened this morning 2007-08-18

I am at one of my favorite cafes in Dallas preparing for the sermon I am preaching tomorrow.  While waiting in line I looked up and saw a man walking into the bathroom that looked just like Dustin Salter.  He was tall and had the same sort of bend to his neck (the difficulty that tall people seem to have ...

The Ordinary and the Extraordinary 2007-08-02

Just a thought I had at the office today, doing a most ordinary thing: One may do the ordinary in such a way as to prevent ever approaching the ...

The Rickety Old Bucket You Weren’t Supposed to See 2007-07-24

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Worship in the Gospel 2007-07-23

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A Prayer for My Soul, A Rickety Old Bucket 2007-07-22

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But I am poor and needy… (Psalm 70:5) 2007-06-09

Although I was miserable and poor, God did think upon me. As according to the extent in which any one is afflicted, so is he despised by the world, we imagine that he is disregarded by God, we must, therefore, stedfastly maintain that our miseries in no respect produce on the part of God a feeling of weariness towards us, ...

Thank you for silence 2007-05-16

PrefaceA poem I jotted down today during a break between sessions on a staff retreat. I have been studying Deuteronomy for a sermon series I am preaching at an area church and was overwhelmed at the manifold ways in which my own heart breaks the first commandment to have no other gods before the LORD. I was amazed ...

The Given God 2007-02-23

My wife and I are reading through a most contemplation evoking paper presently on the Eucharist that has sparked a great wonder and awe of God in me. Traditionally, we have thought of God as being of infinitely greater and altogether different kind of being from which we have our being analogously. Even so, one of my favorite theologians begins ...

Abraham’s Prayer for Sodom (Genesis 18:16-33) 2007-02-18

16 Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of ...

A Prayer for Guidance 2007-02-14

Email meDirect us, O Lord, in all our doings with your most gracious favor and further us with your continual help; that in all our works begun, continued and ended in you, we may glorify your holy Name, and finally by your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. O God, by whom the meek are guided ...