Last Friday, Linda and I returned from an 11 day Caribbean Cruise. She took me on this cruise as a celebration of a pretty significant milestone as far as birthdays go. (I’ll be 50 next week!) Now that we have two cruises under our belt, I think I can more knowingly say that I DO…
I have learned two things in nearly 20 years of pastoral ministry. 1. I need a personal time in the Bible on a routine basis. I remember when I was younger, I would think that spending time each day in the Bible would make my DAY go better. I will have a better morning, a…
Throwback from 2019! How much glory was obscured in that manger? Who was this baby, that came to us in such strange circumstances? This week I will be preaching from Matthew 17:1-13 to identify just how much Jesus was hiding. I believe that many of us drift off theologically this time of the year. We…
Can we assume that Eve was the first woman? She was certainly the first female. But is the word “woman” merely reserved for a gendered cultural expression that can only be defined based on social constructs? I assume that cultural expressions were quite limited being that just her and Adam existed AND that the fashion…
I wrote a sermon this week on 2 Samuel 6:16-23. In this passage, King David of Israel is bringing the ark of the covenant up into Jerusalem effectively moving the center of Jewish worship to that city for the first time. And he is dancing and leaping and shouting praises to God while dressed down…
As I went to bed last night I was picking up on the nightly news that invasion was underway in Ukraine. When I woke up I watched a segment on CNN that troubled my heart. The newscaster stood at the side of a large screen map of Ukraine. It was a high tech affair. He…
I am rereading the book, ‘The Pastor’ by Eugene Peterson. The book serves as his memoirs and for some reason has spoken so deeply to my soul that I have read it or listened to it more than five times in the past few years. I am currently working through it slowly with our associate…
There is a type of person that many Christians don’t want to believe exists. It may be that we have a strong sense of grace, a naive view of the world, or even a “think the best of people” attitude. But we need to wake up, because this type of person is only going to…
I have been familiar with death my entire life. My formative years were spent watching my father battle and eventually succumb to cancer. He passed into the rest of it all three days after my 8th birthday. And so I have spent all of my days with a keen awareness of my own mortality. And…
Some can’t wait to ditch the masks, while others can’t imagine a future without them. Some were in line immediately to get a vaccine and post it quickly to the socials. Others are still weighing the risks to figure out what is best for them. Some are convinced that we have overreacted to this pandemic.…
To my shame, I can let a day just happen. Some days are just overcast and glum. My ability to be overcast is just as fickle as the Michigan weather. But I preface that as being to my shame, because there are little graces in each and every day. I truly believe that the difference…
The judicial system of our nation is always in motion. But there are some days that it gets more attention than others. On any given day there are cases being tried, arrests being made, verdicts being issued, and sentences being handed down. But this past week we were all paying attention. And what did we…
