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Michael Schutz

Latest posts

The Original Sin

On Tuesdays, our church sends out an email newsletter. Each week I write a short summary of the past Sunday's theme and message. This past Sunday was the First Sunday in Lent, and we read three passages of Scripture: Genesis 3:1-21, Romans 5:12-19, and Matthew 4:1-11. While it's entirely too short (isn't everything?), here's what I shared with the congregation I serve in today's newsletter.

Behold...

I love the word behold. It's an archaic word, one that not many people use anymore. It's sounds quaint, old-fashioned. But it's a great word. Most people will say "look" nowadays, and it's really the same word. It's the Greek word ἰδοὺ, which really means "look!" or "pay attention!". Behold!

40 Days of Going Without

We're often tempted to make everything about us. (Or is that just me?) There are so many times in our lives when we think things are about us, but they're really not. Maybe you had an interaction recently where someone responded in a way that you thought was odd. Chances are pretty good that they were dealing with or thinking about something in their own lives, and they reacted oddly to you, but they didn't think you were odd.

40 Days of Resonance

As a "side" project, TheResonant suffers from being to the side of many other areas of life: my pastoral call, family, and other volunteer projects. When something has to give, this is one of the first things. But that's no way to build momentum and a worthwhile project. So I'm embarking on a new project for the season of Lent this year: a sort of reverse idea of "giving something up".

"The End of Babies"; It's Simple, Really

I came across this article recently. It struck me while I read it (and it's worth a read for all who are seeking to be cultural exegetes) that, for the Christian, the answer to the primary question of the article —"Something is stopping us from creating the families we claim to desire. But what?"—is stunningly simple: removing Yahweh from the equation.

The Perfect Word

I’m more than a bit of a grammar nerd. I’m fascinated by the way language is constructed, by the way words convey meaning and the ways they relate to each other. I’m such a grammar nerd that I have a whole argument laid out in my head (soon to be committed to this site) about why prepositions are the most important category of words. As I’ve begun to learn the original Biblical languages over the past number of years, I’m fascinated by them, too.