The Rev. Christopher Yoder is rector of All Souls’ Episcopal Church, Oklahoma City. Raised in western Pennsylvania, he studied at Wheaton College and Duke Divinity School.
The modern hymn “In Christ Alone” has provoked controversy with its phrase "the wrath of God was satisfied." But there is a better way to understand “the wrath of God,” a way that displays its truth, goodness, and even its beauty.
One of the significant goods of grappling with “difficult” works of art (or theological lectures) is the way doing so can provide training for enduring the ordinary difficulties of life.
From time to time, upon surveying our culture, I’m inclined to see the specter of barbarians at the gates. Wonder is a powerful antidote to such a temptation.
Every so often I come across a text that does for me what reading Cicero did for Augustine: it changes the way I pray. I’ve found one such text in Bernard of Clairvaux’s On Loving God.
I am convinced from the ordinal that being a faithful pastor is, quite simply, instructing the people committed to your charge with teaching rooted and grounded in Holy Scripture.
