This is how President Reagan concluded his farewell address: “My friends: We did it. We weren’t just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger; we made the city freer; and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad — not bad at all.” President Reagan here was making [...]
Read this entry »
Pastor’s Notes
You Must Because He Kant
Immanuel Kant, one of the dead guys, divided all there is into two categories: the noumenal and the phenomenal. Who cares, you say? Just a couple of long words borne into the world, you say? Well let’s see … I’m phenomenal. My writing is phenomenal. I play phenomenal basketball. But lest you think I’m boasting, [...]
Read this entry »Solutions to Our Discontent
What is God’s solution to our discontent? Well, I’ll give you three but all are less pill than regimen. In other words, these are ideas to train into your thinking, a way to contentment that has to be learned. First, Paul knew only the cross, and Christ crucified. To wit: Paul took from the cross [...]
Read this entry »Sources of Our Discontent
One of the main points of the first Corinthian letter, and thus a real message from God to the church today is captured in chapter seven, verse twenty-one: “Do not be concerned about it.” If I could say again: “It’s ok…Settle down.” And again I say, “Take it easy.” Corinthians is written to people who [...]
Read this entry »God and Man’s Glory
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, And the glory of a king to plumb a matter. Part of what makes God God-like is the mystery that surrounds Him and many of His works. He is invisible, the mechanisms of His actions are complex, His relationship to time is maddeningly different from [...]
Read this entry »I am of Paul
A pastor settles on one of two versions of salvation he will emphasize. The first salvation is that from a sub-Christianity. Let’s sketch an image of ‘sub-Christian Bill.’ Bill has grown up in an understanding of Christianity that is (the kindest word for it) diminished. He is truly joined to God through Christ, but has [...]
Read this entry »Psalm 13
Psalm 13 is a lament—a category of prayer that you are surprised to find in the Bible, since there is in it the potential for God to be thought of poorly. Here the psalmist is confused, impatient to the point of exasperation. Four times he declaims, “How long?” to God. We are not sure of [...]
Read this entry »Spirit in the World
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning [...]
Read this entry »But the Hour is Coming
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” – John 4:23,24 Jesus says to the Samaritan woman that [...]
Read this entry »Library Announcement
Our church library is almost completed, and books can now be borrowed. Thanks to all who have contributed volumes and have worked to set up the library, including especially Allie Thompson, Kelsea Molitor, and Melita Matzko (from a distance!) I said almost: we still have a few things to do. 1) place bookplates in the [...]
Read this entry »