Following his wishes, John Calvin was buried in an unmarked grave. He never wanted attention drawn to himself, only to the One whom he served. But this past year, as we celebrated the 500th year since his birth, he has had much attention. So much so that beginning this Sunday, I will preach a five-week sermon series on Calvin's major teachings.

In a word, Calvin is "hot." Many independent and non-denominational churches are now calling themselves Calvinists. Odd, but today's Calvinists don't necessarily mesh with John's teachings. And Calvin has also caught the attention of China and SE Asia (I noted nearly 700,000 Google 'hits' for "China and John Calvin"). As Asia moves rapidly towards capitalism, there is a concern to learn the ethical underpinnings of a free-market society - thus they turn to Calvin.