Dr. Timothy Keller had a knack for delivering a meaningful Easter sermon that would engage your head and your heart as you thought through the implications of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The sermon linked below was given in 2002 during an exciting time at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. Dr. Keller was able to capture the attention of many young New Yorkers with his intellectual and heartfelt preaching. 

In the introduction to this sermon, Keller recounts the conflict of Leo Tolstoy who stated: "My question, which at age 50 brought me to the verge of suicide, a  question seeking an answer without which one cannot live, was this: Is their any meaning in life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?" Keller then sets out to answer that question!

You can listen to the audio of this message from the Gospel in Life web site at: https://gospelinlife.com/sermon/raising-the-widow-s-son-2/

A transcript of the audio is available here:
​2002-Easter-Raising-the-Widows-Son.pdf

This is a blog post I wrote in 2017 after viewing the solar eclipse from southern Illinois. Reposting now since North Texas will be viewing an eclipse on April 8, 2024. I thought it might be of interest to those preparing for it.

August 21, 2017
I woke up Monday morning, August 21, in Southaven, Mississippi (outside of Memphis.) I was driving with my daughter, Emily, back to her college in northern Indiana. As part of our trip, we made plans to be in southern Illinois on Eclipse Day 2017 since that part of the country would be in the path of totality.
​ 
We left our hotel at 8:30 in the morning for the 200 mile trip into Illinois. Passing through Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri on the way, we didn’t get into the “zone of totality” till we crossed the Mississippi river on Interstate 57 and entered Illinois. At one point we passed a rest area that was full of cars parked and people out taking positions for the eclipse. 

Our destination was a small park next to Crab Orchard Lake near Carbondale, Illinois. We reached the vicinity of our spot around 11:50 AM, just as the sun was starting to be covered by the moon. We stopped at Grass Road General Store to look with our eclipse glasses and get some lunch. They were busy with a BBQ lunch going on outside the store and vendors selling eclipse merchandise. It was hot – temperatures in the 90s and the sun was shining brightly at this point. The forecast called for partly cloudy skies.

As we approached our destination, we discovered that it was not as out of the way as we had hoped. About 50 cars lined the parking lot with people hugging the tree line for shade and others under tents by the lake. Everywhere you looked people were gazing at the sky with eclipse glasses on. We found a place to park and walked around the scene, stealing glances at the sun every few minutes. About an hour from totality, it was fun seeing the golden sun slowly getting covered more and more by the moon and turning into a crescent shape. 

The clouds were a problem. They were building now and covered the sun every few minutes. It seemed like it would be hit or miss if it would be clear for the totality. About 30 minutes out, we could tell that the temperature was dropping and the sunshine was dimming. However, it was still obviously inappropriate to look straight at the sun. We noticed that the skies seemed to be clear to the north and so with only 20 minutes until totality, we decided to drive to a better location. 

As we got to the car, it was obvious that driving a short distance up the road would make a big difference since the sun was shining bright on a nearby hill. We drove only about a half mile and pulled into the driveway of the area wildlife refuge. The only other vehicle around was a utility truck parked a short distance away – obviously stopped for the big event. We had a clear view at this point and no clouds to worry about. Emily would later say that we were #eclipsechasers for making such a bold move!

About 1:10 PM, things started getting interesting. The lighting was starting to look like it does at dusk. We started hearing birds chirping in the nearby trees. Then the locusts starting buzzing. The sun was almost entirely covered now and no longer had a crescent shape. There were not shadows anymore. The light made kind of a moon glow over everything just before it went out. 

The “diamond” moment caught me by surprise. I thought I would be looking at it through glasses, but we realized we should watch it without. It was a spectacular bright light that was very vivid for a few short seconds like a striking match bursting into flame. It left me wanting more. It was exciting to think it would return in a couple minutes at the end of the totality. 

The moon covered the sun. The countryside turned very dark, but I remember seeing an orange sunset glow on the horizon to the east still. The orange glow would grow larger a little later before dimming close toward the end of the eclipse. The effect of the darkness was very eerie. I kept stealing glances at Emily and the surrounding trees to take it in, but wanted to keep my focus on the eclipse. The moon and sun were beautiful. The glow around the moon was a unique shape that I didn’t expect – more like a rectangle shape with curved ends around the side. Not as much glow on top and bottom. A nice ring around the moon’s outer edge all the way around. You could hear exclamations from people in the distance. It would have been neat to be closer to the lake where the crowd was, but I have no idea how well their view ended up being. 

The eclipse went fast (about 2 minutes and 40 seconds) but was long enough to really relax and enjoy the moment. Finally, there was a flash and the “diamond” effect returned and I enjoyed the brilliant light one more time, but just for a few seconds. 

The countryside seemed to brighten very quickly and things seemed to return to normal. We actually got in the car right away to start driving north. Emily kept watch over the returning crescent shape through the window. At one point, we passed a local airport and there were about a dozen small planes lined up in the grass facing the sun. It looked like a number of people flew their airplanes into the area for the event. 

We were about 5 miles from the interstate. By the time we got there it was already filling up. The Carbondale area was a spot that many people from Chicago traveled to. They had come in over the course of a few days, but now all were going to be leaving at once. We had a slow 6.5 hour drive back into Chicago for the next leg of our trip. But it was a special time to talk through what we had experienced and recall the wonder of the day. 

Dr. Tim Keller passed away in May, 2023, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He spoke very openly during his treatment about his hope in the face of death. His ability to articulate that hope has been a comfort to many. 

In the early 2000's, Tim Keller also faced thyroid cancer. Recently, while listening to a sermon of his from 2003, I came across a section where he describes his hope in the face of death. So he had been thinking deeply about this subject for over 20 years at a very personal level! That makes his strength and witness over the long haul even more compelling. 

Here are his remarks from a sermon called "The Glory of Jesus" given on February 2, 2003. The audio is available online HERE.

"You know, a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. My wife this morning told me I should add, in case you don’t know me or anything about this, it was thyroid cancer and they took it out and I’m fine.

Kathy on the way home said, “You know, you didn’t finish the story very well.” When they told me about it, I sat down.… You know, before they told me all of the good news, they told me, “Well, it’s cancer.” I sat down and I spent about an hour thinking to myself, “Will I be able to handle this? Am I ready to die? Will I be able to face death okay, or will I be too afraid to die?” And I started thinking about the Resurrection. I went to the evidence, the stuff I like to get out every Easter. 

If you’ve been around on Easter you know I get it out. I thought about the fact that every gospel says women were the first witnesses of the resurrected
Jesus. Of course, as you’ve heard me perhaps say before, there is no way if you were making up stories about the Resurrection in the first century you ever would have put women in as the first witnesses, because they had such low status.

So if they’re in the stories, the only explanation for why women were the first resurrection witnesses was because women were. That’s the only possible explanation. There must have been all of these women who saw Jesus.

Then I was thinking of 1 Corinthians 15, written only 20 years after the fact. Paul says 500 people saw the resurrected Jesus at once, and he says, “Most of them are still alive. If you want to, you can go talk to them.”

Listen. People do not have group hallucinations. Not only that, that’s too big for a conspiracy. Seven or eight people can say, “We saw Jesus Christ risen from the dead.” But five hundred?

I looked at this, and I thought about this, and I said, “This happened. This is a real thing that happened. This is as well-attested as any historical fact. Therefore, I don’t have to be afraid,” and I wasn’t."

The organization "Gospel in Life" is sponsoring a series entitled "Discovering the Gospel in Every Book of the Bible." Gospel in Life is the home for sermon resources created by Dr. Tim Keller and other pastors of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. The stated goal of the series is to release to short videos per month till all 66 books of the Bible are completed. One notable thing about the series is that they are hosted by Dr. Keller himself, who has a serious cancer diagnosis. Each video is about 10 minutes long. You can find the series at the YouTube channel for Gospel in Life (https://www.youtube.com/@gospelinlife/videos). I am also linking them on the "Tim Keller" page on this site - along with a transcript I am creating for each one. I am passionate about this project because of Dr. Keller's unique approach to demonstrating how every part of the Bible points to Jesus Christ. Those themes will be highlighted in this series. 

I recently came across a publication from 1981 from an organization called "Church Growth: America". The January-February edition that year had a cover story entitled "Is There a Computer in Your Church's Future?" I guess we can FINALLY answer the question - YES! A fun read from back in the day! Click HERE to see a PDF copy of the article. 

My pastor at Christ Church Plano recently did a teaching on the topic of "How Ordinary Christians Listen to God's Calling." It was a very helpful review of understanding our three different callings: a general call to faith in Christ and following him; our immediate calls day-by-day to respond in the moment according to his will; and our specific calls in vocation according to our "wiring."

Watch the video here: YouTube
Transcript notes of the video: PDF

Christian singer and song-writer Bethany Barnard released a new album in August, 2021. It is beautiful music in the mellow and melodic style of her 2017 album "A Better Word." I have enjoyed both albums, as I did her earlier music released as Bethany Dillon in the early 2000s. 

The 2021 album, however, is significant because of the content she is addressing. The album is entitled "All My Questions" and is reflection on the significant events that happened in her life in 2020. I recommend both listening to this music and also exploring some of the themes and content she has discussed in conjunction with its release. 

Below is a collection of significant resource material in case you are interested.

Blog Post: "New Music, Grief, and My Journey" from January 2021
YouTube: "New Music, Grief, and My Journey" from January 2021
Link to Music for the album: ​FanLink
Lyrics to the songs on the album: LYRICS

Blog Post: "Jesus Isn't Scared of My Suffering & Questions" from August, 2021
(Bethany mentions three Tim Keller sermons in this blog post - "Praying our Tears," "Praying Our Fears," and "Doubt, Joy, and Power." The transcripts of these sermons can be found here. She also mentions a series of talks by Keller entitled "Trusting God in Difficult Times".) The audio for all the Keller messages are available at the Gospel in Life website. 

Lyric Video: "You Know" (YouTube)
Lyric Video: "Who Else" (YouTube) 
Annie F. Downs Podcast: Episode 314

Weekly study notes for the series on the book of Psalms will go directly to the Bible Study Notes page. 

The study of the Psalms ("Truthful Speech as Common Prayer") began on June 28, 2021, and will run for 8 weeks. Access the video session on the church web site at:
https://christchurchplano.org/media/media-library/series/truthful-speech-as-common-prayer/

New sessions are released on Mondays. The Christ Church YouTube page will often post the new lessons a day early - usually on Sunday. 
https://www.youtube.com/c/christchurchplano​

Weekly Bible Study notes for the new series of the Book of Acts will go directly on the Bible Study Notes page. 

The study on the Book of Acts began on April 5, 2021, and will run for ten weeks. Access the video session on the church web site at:
​​christchurchplano.org/media/media-library/series/christian-mission-in-a-pagan-world/

Week four of the current teaching series from Christ Church Anglican in Plano, Texas. For the video, visit www.christchurchplano.org or on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eXfF-xtyHk&t=842s
Lesson: "Gideon"
Series: "A Faithful God for a Faithless People"

judges_lesson_5.pdf