The (Lieben)GOOD LIFE

  Practicing the True Life in the Midst of the False One 1 John 3:16-24        Acts 4:5-12        Psalm 23        John 10:11-18 Prayer of Invocation Our Father, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Prayer of Illumination Father, through your Son Jesus, we have passed from death to life. Enable us to practice a life of love that both demonstrates that we belong to You, and that also destroys the works of the devil. In the name of Jesus.  Proclamation Back in the day, just after they transitioned from leather to plastic helmets, I played football at San Jose St. (And yes, the older I get, the better I was!) My first two years, we ran a unique defense (The Buddy Ryan 46) th...

  Rillera, Andrew R.  Lamb of the Free: Recovering the Varied Sacrificial Understandings of Jesus's Death . Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2024.   Reviewed b y Kelly D. Liebengood Jesus saves. But how ? And in particular, what did Jesus accomplish in his death? Historically, most Protestant traditions have replied that he died to offer himself as an atoning sacrifice. That is, in his death, Jesus stood in the place of sinners (substitution) and took upon himself the punishment for sins (penal) that they committed in order to appease God’s wrath, to satisfy his justice, and to secure forgiveness of sins (atonement). In Lamb of the Free , Rillera disassembles the building blocks for this prominent interpretation of Jesus’s death (often referred to as penal substitutionary atonement [henceforth, PSA]), and replaces them with an account of the saving significance of Jesus’s death that is coherently aligned with the logic of Old Testament sacrifice and the prophetic expectations t...