Author: nlongfield

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After a decade in the works, my book on the Lord's Supper and the gospel is finally out! It's available here at Amazon, and other booksellers as well. The book, Remembrance, Communion, and Hope makes the case for how a renewed theology and practice of the Lord's Supper can lead to a deeper embrace of the gospel itself. Thus, it's not just a book about the particulars of "what the bread means," or "how Christ is present" at the meal. Through the sign-action of the Supper, the book probes the character of the biblical drama of salvation. Here is one aspect of that drama of salvation that is often missed today: Jesus Christ is our true spouse. God has entered into covenant with his people, which both the Old and New Testaments compare to marriage. Specifically in the New Testament, we are betrothed to Christ -- as a people, and as individuals. Our...

26 February, 2018

"What side do you take on communion?" That's the question some have asked after hearing about my forthcoming book on the Lord's Supper and the gospel. The question is understandable. All too often, this sacrament to celebrate unity in Christ has been the occasion for polemics, squabbling, and dissension. And yet, I didn't enter into the decade-long journey of writing this book as an assault on the various approaches to the Lord's Table with which I disagree. Nor did I attempt to wave a magic "scholarly wand" that would fix all ecumenical problems related to the Table. What I did, instead, was return to the narrative of scripture and seek to inhabit my own (Reformed) tradition in a generous way that can benefit Christians of many different traditions. In the process, I found that Reformed Christians today have much to learn from others, even in the process of rediscovering the Reformed tradition...

19 January, 2018

The new book, Remembrance, Communion, and Hope, will be out in a few weeks! Here's a meditation from the book on the durable, eternal love that we're incorporated into in the Christian life and worship: "As mind-bending as it may seem, when the Spirit incorporates us into the loving communion of Jesus the Son, we are incorporated into a durable, eternal love that is older than creation itself. This is a love that does not move to and fro like the updating of one’s 'relationship status' on Facebook; it is not a product of Valentine’s Day swooning. This eternal love echoes through the ages in the praise the creation itself sings to the Creator. 'Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.' (Ps. 96:11–12)  In the sign-act of the Supper, God...

11 January, 2018

A decade in the making, my next book is due out in a month! The book, Remembrance, Communion, and Hope, is based upon a wager that congregations can rediscover the gospel itself through a renewed theology and practice of the Supper. In this and the next couple of blog posts, I'll include a brief excerpt to give you a taste of the themes, with different endorsements featured at the bottom of each. It's available here for pre-order now! "The church is filled with symbols and rituals that can shape our identity, moving us into a narrative that is bigger than we could conjure up ourselves. In the gathering of a people, prayer and praise, proclamation of the Word, the washing with and feeding upon the Word in baptism and the Supper, we taste God’s new world. We will always be “of” the world. Yet, as our imaginations are fired with God’s new...

03 January, 2018

On August 15th I conducted an interview with Faith Radio as a follow up on Rejoicing in Lament, two years later. From the interview: “When we think about Psalm 90 and numbering our days, it can be a temptation to act as if we need to take out our schedule and make every minute count because we’re the center of the universe and we should never waste any time.” “We number our days by making ourselves very efficient in a Western industrialized environment. But I think that Psalm 90 is actually moving a different direction. Whether we live 30, 70, or 100 years, our lives are really short; our lives are like a breath in the larger picture of things. It is the Lord who is everlasting; it is the Lord who has been there from all generations.” “Although there are times when I just want to sort of pound out everything I can...

16 August, 2017

Is the study of theology a distraction from Christian discipleship, or essential to it? Unfortunately, I've known people who have studied a bit of theology, and then their faith seemed to evaporate. Perhaps you have know people like that as well. But there is also an opposite danger: that we focus upon the practices of discipleship in a way that is disconnected from coming to know and love the Triune God made known in Jesus Christ. At its best, theology can be part of the path of discipleship, of loving God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. I explored this recently in an interview with Dr. Keith Johnson, Associate professor of Theology at Wheaton College. We discuss his marvelous book called Theology as Discipleship. We discuss how theology, at its best, is connected to Christian discipleship in the church. And we explore what it means to approach scripture as...

02 May, 2017