December 2011
1 post
A Christmas Reminder
I am constantly amazed and challenged by the story of Christmas. I am not talking about shepherds, wise men, or a night spent in a stable, but the larger story of how God chose to react to a world in rebellion. To be honest God did not do things the way I would have done them. I would have chosen to act more publicly. I would have made a big public condemnation of humanity, and issued a...
November 2011
1 post
Thoughts on Thanks
Last week I popped into a department store for a quick purchase and heard the familiar sounds of Christmas music. Nowadays that can only mean one thing – Thanksgiving must be getting close. This is a part of our culture that drives me nuts – Christmas music weeks before Thanksgiving. It just feels like we are trampling over Thanksgiving, just to encourage people to buy, buy, buy.
I am...
October 2011
2 posts
Reason One
Last week we asked the question, “is it a good idea – is it worth it to follow Christ?” After all, if we are going to invite people to follow Christ, then we should actually invite them to something better, something more worthwhile than the life they know. This was Paul’s task, when he visited with the group of philosophers that frequented ancient Athens in Acts 17. Perhaps it is time...
One Among Many?
Around the time of 50 A.D. Athens, Greece was a special place. It was no longer the seat of power, since Rome had long surpassed Greece as the dominant world power. It was however, still a place where the leading minds and philosophers of the day gathered to learn, discuss, and debate. You could almost call it a large, college town. In Athens all of the philosophies of the world were...
September 2011
2 posts
Olympic Sized Lessons
There are some ways in which my wife and I are quite different. Yet one of the ways we are similar and well-matched is in the way we like to take vacations. In a world of beach-goers and Disney visitors, we love to see beautiful, out of the way places. There is nothing wrong with being a Disney visitor, I am just happy I did not marry one. My wife and I like to see lakes, mountains and lots...
Life In A Heavy Drizzle
During the past week my wife and I have been traveling around the Pacific Northwest for the first time in our lives. It was an area in which we have never been, and we thought it would be great to see it for ourselves. One week into our journey I can say this is a truly beautiful area. There are stunning vistas, green mountains, and enormous trees – all things we do not get to see in the flat...
July 2011
4 posts
A Week Gone Wrong
What a week this was going to be. After all, I had been looking forward to this week for months. Some friends, my brother and I were all going to northern Michigan for a few days of golf in a beautiful setting. I had been counting down on the calendar toward these days for quite some time, and as midnight came around Sunday evening, my countdown made it to two days left. All that changed in...
What Happened To The Power?
What a week! Many of us dread Monday mornings, knowing that it is the start of a long work week. Sometimes, it feels like there is a black cloud hanging over your head, as we get ready for work. Unfortunately for us, the black cloud hanging over our head this week was not metaphorical, but was very real, and it brought a torrent of wind and damage to where we live. This week, right at 8 AM,...
A Simple 10 Point Plan
Most weeks we send out this essay with a spiritual point in mind. Not so this week. In the spirit of summer, this is a light hearted observation of our culture. So here are 10 ways to immediately make our society better – at least in the eyes of our inner curmudgeon.
1. If you have 23 items in your cart…. stay out of the express lane. Do you somehow think that the polite rules of...
Celebrating Freedom
This is the weekend where we get to celebrate freedom. Most of us are fortunate to have lived in a place where we get to enjoy the benefits of freedom. In my lifetime I have changed jobs, traveled across numerous states, and bought a house relatively free from government intrusion. I have ridden a horse across mountains, taken part in 5 whitewater rafting trips, hiked to dozens of waterfalls,...
June 2011
1 post
The Big Question
Once again an age-old question has confronted me this week. It has confronted me in an abstract, intellectual sense, but even more importantly, this question has arisen in a deeply personal context. What does it mean to be a Christian? Before we quickly turn away, let us be reminded that how we answer this question will reveal much about who we are. I also have come to the realization that...
May 2011
2 posts
O-H-I-Oh, No!!
While I live in Illinois, I grew up in Ohio. The weather is largely the same, the land looks the same, and both places have an immense lake on their northern coast, albeit different lakes. There is one significant difference, Ohio people are a little more zealous about being from Ohio, than Illinois people are about being from Illinois. To people who come from states with no tradition, it is...
A Taste of Heaven
I cannot remember being more excited to preach a sermon than I was last week. There seemed to be so much I wanted to say, but I also wanted to respect the time of everyone listening, so I had to edit my sermon accordingly. I know from experience that the sermon I think I am preaching, and the sermon that is heard are sometimes not the same things. So to ensure that there are no...
April 2011
4 posts
Asking The Impossible
Don’t you hate it when people ask for the impossible? The boss wants a report yesterday. The finance division at work wants numbers from your department, numbers that you have not even received yet. Your family wants a house with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a fireplace, and all for a price even with your current home. The impossible is frustrating because it cannot be attained, and when we...
I Read The News Today, Oh Boy!
Have you read the paper lately? Or perhaps, for the more technology enabled, have you read you web news portals recently? We are in the middle of one of these depressing news cycles. “War expansion in Libya.” “Dozens of Syrian protesters shot dead.” “Battle rages along Afghan-Pakistani border.” “Teen beaten inside a McDonalds.” Deficit reaches1.0, no 1.2, er 1.3, oops 1.4, how about 1.6...
Carrying A Heavy Load
I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to become a Christian. To be more specific, I have been thinking about how the wider culture hears our appeal. Often, those in the church can become so isolated that we lose the ability to even grasp how those from outside our number hear our message. When people do not respond to our message we tend to say, “what is wrong with them?” ...
March 2011
4 posts
Knock, Knock, Knocking On Heaven's Door
Every now and then, I read something that just leaps off the page at me. It usually means there is something there that I have not seen before, noticed before, or even imagined. I ran across something like this recently, and it was when I was reading the gospel of John. In 5:24 John reads, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has...
Come Hell or High Water
Once again a raging controversy has enveloped the church. To many it has become the latest in a series of issues that threaten the very core of the church. To some others, it is merely the latest in a long line of disputes that are claimed to threaten our very existence. Ironically, very few of these ever actually threaten our existence, they simply serve as an occasion to don our full battle...
Shoutin' Time
There is a lot I remember about growing up in church. When I was young our church was one of those old, classic limestone churches, with those high ceilings and no air-conditioning. In the backs of the pews were little shelfs for the hymnals, and behind the hymnals were those hand-fans from the funeral home. Long sermons were always tough to sit through when you were 10, but long sermons in...
Happy Yet?
Are you happy? This is a surprisingly important question, and one that carries some historical importance. Even the founders of this country thought so. They parted ways with the French, whose revolutionary slogan was “life, liberty and equality.” Instead, they wrote, “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” So, let me ask the question again, are you happy? I am not talking about the...
February 2011
2 posts
What's That Smell?
Some of us are devoted fans of the TV series “Seinfeld.” We can sit in a circle with other fans and quote funny lines from that series for hours. Many will remember the “B.O.” episode. Jerry takes his car to a restaurant, and takes advantage of the valet service at the door. When his meal was completed, he quickly realizes that the valet that parked his car had a terrible issue with body odor....
When In Doubt
That was quite a blizzard most of us experienced a few days ago. While the cleanup is difficult, and it does tend to interrupt life, there is a fascinating quality to blizzards. The wind rages, the snow piles up, and we look out the window knowing we are going to get a snow day when morning comes. Often, blizzards give us the chance to slow down, relax, and re-connect with our families and...
January 2011
1 post
Choose Carefully
All of us know how important it is to make good choices in life. Sometimes we will stand in front of 13 shades of yellow, all of which look exactly the same to a man, in an attempt to find the perfect shade for our kitchen. This is a lesson most of us learned very early in life, and the lesson really became important as we started Junior High. Our parents worried, prayed, and spent sleepless...
December 2010
4 posts
Monsters In The Closet
There were a lot of things that used to scare me when I was a kid. Bullies used to scare me. They seemed so tough, and I was certain that I could not stand up to them. Monsters used to scare me as well. Not real monsters, but the monsters that lived in my closet. Each night before going to sleep, I would close my closet door, and check under my bed to be sure none had left the closet to...
A Blue Christmas
Last night I heard a depressing story from one of my students. Last year one her friends lost a 4 year child to cancer on Christmas morning. Let that sink in for a moment. I cannot imagine the horror of watching a child die at any time, but not on Christmas! This is the day when we are supposed to feel joy, and be uplifted. If a tragedy like this is to happen, why can’t we not magically...
Anonymous asked: Why is Jesus your savior, yet not your Lord?
Celebrating the Real
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For most of the lives of our children, we celebrated Christmas in the same manner. One of the ways we celebrated was by cutting down a Christmas tree every year. We went out to a Christmas tree farm, walked down row after row of trees, and eventually would narrow the choice down to two or three trees. Rarely...
November 2010
3 posts
Happy Thanksgiving
Recession, Bah Humbug!
This has been a rough year all around. It has been a bad year economically not only for the US, but around the world as well. Many people have changed jobs, or lost jobs, and that has led to a year without. In the midst of times like this it is easy to grow embittered about the circumstances around us. Perhaps this is a good time to remember that the first Thanksgiving...
The Real Issue
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Bad, Bad Boy
I have to admit, there is some language in Christianity that strikes the modern ear as less than appealing. We live in the era of the self-help book, where we are to discover our very best, in 3 easy steps. We are always striving to improve our waistline, relationships, or investment income. We...
Word of the Day
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Have you ever noticed there are certain words that are just fun? If I am eating at a Mexican restaurant and say my food is spicy, I may be telling you that it is good spicy, or it could mean bad spicy. Yet if I tell you my food is zesty, you just know that means it is good. The same holds true for jingle. No...
October 2010
1 post
Times Square Bomber and Theology
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Bigger Difference Than You Think
On the way to the office this morning, I heard the news about the sentencing of the Times Square Bomber. As a penalty for his attempt to ignite a bomb in the heart of Manhattan, this man was sentenced to 5 consecutive 80 year prison sentences. He will spend the rest of his life...
September 2010
2 posts
Tempest In A Teacup
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Apparently many of us in the church have been doing things wrong for a long time. Sometimes that is a tough confession to make, but there is always time to learn to do things better. From time to time many of those who follow Christ have tried different things in an effort to raise our visibility. I have...
A Good Offense
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By this time I am sure that many of us have seen one of the Toy Story movies. One of my favorite things about this movie franchise is how well they remember the toys from my childhood days. Until these movies I had completely forgotten about the little wooden telephone that rolled along the floor with the...
August 2010
4 posts
A Hill To Die On
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In the popular language of our culture, people would probably say I am rapidly approaching Middle Age. Yet unless I live to past 90, I must admit that I am probably past the midpoint of my life. Since I am certain I would rather not live past the age of 90 it is safe to say that I am at least halfway through...
Oh Where You WIll Go
Children’s Sermon from This week
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So what can I do with this brief little time, maybe, I thought, I could make the words rhyme. Oh, I could speak here, or way over there, and maybe I could stand and speak almost anywhere. Oh, I could teach you in the rain, or I could speak with you in a train. I could...
So What?
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Last week we talked about the world into which Jesus was born, and why people considered Him to be this long awaited leader who would change the world. Surprisingly, Jesus shared almost none of the characteristics that the people who were looking for him expected. He was not a ruler, a military...
The One That Got Away
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I have never been much of a fisherman. I just do not have the patience for it. Yet I know that most families have someone who is devoted to the activity. Perhaps that family member is also one who likes to stretch the truth, so the fish from that fishing trip in 1999 keeps getting bigger year after year. Maybe...
July 2010
2 posts
Literally, A New Post
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Last week we talked about the different worldviews that are prevalent today, and what it means to be “true.” In some ways it is a good introduction to another topic which bedevils any dialogue between people of faith, and those who are on the outside looking in. This topic is the nature of the Bible. This...
A New World
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Have you ever spent an evening watching the sunset? When you watch the sun gently dip below the horizon, it is easy to become accustomed to the fading light in the west, and then when you turn around to walk away from your viewing spot, there is a sudden surprise of how dark it has become. The viewer just does...
April 2010
2 posts
Who Is On Our Side?
Bad Role Models
My wife and I went on our honeymoon together in January of 1987. It was the middle of a Chicago winter, and we spent a week in Cozumel, Mexico. We snorkled, toured the island, walked along the beach, and took more than a few death-defying cab rides, between town and our hotel. But there was one other event that happened that week, and it has left me deeply damaged for life. My...
Why Things Happen
It seems like I am destined to meet the same types of people again and again. For some reason I tend to meet people who are struggling in life with a deep disappointment with God. There is usually some pain, hurt or loss that serves as a catalyst for their current struggles – maybe a death of a child, or the loss of a sibling or spouse way too young. “Why would God do such a thing to my...
March 2010
3 posts
Health Care = Hellfire?
This is one of those weeks. I would love to write about a number of topics, but feel compelled to address the health care situation, and the bill that was just signed into law earlier in the week. Let me admit that I have some strong feeling about this issue. Yet this is not the forum for me to address my feelings. As strong as these feelings might be, there are far more important things that...
Cause For Battle?
Sometimes it seems there are issues that divide us so deeply that we cannot get past the gulf to engage each other. One issue that seems to fit that mold is the issue of Evolution vs. Creation. It seems most of our culture either drives cars adorned with the fish symbol, or we drive the Darwin-fish with legs symbol. And so the battle is joined, and rages on today. One either belongs to the...
