Trust God
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Churches, Learn From–but Stop Blaming–Covid
It’s been five years. Five years ago from the publication date of this post, the world was still basically shut down. Though a few things in a few places were starting to try to open up again, the world was a very different place. Churches were not immune to those changes. Every congregation was navigating waters that were very odd. (So, please, do not read the rest of this article as if I am saying that covid wasn’t real or that leaders didn’t do the best they could!) But read that first line again: it’s been five years. Are there lessons that congregations should have learned during 2020? Of course.…
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Do You Know My Jesus?
The mood must have been tense that Sunday afternoon. Very few people had fully grappled with what had happened just days before, and it didn’t help that more rumors about more strange events that morning were starting to spread. Everyone was emotionally exhausted, everyone was physically exhausted, and nobody knew if there would be more innocents targeted by the mob’s fury, or who would be next if there were. It’s no wonder Cleopas and his friend decided to get out of dodge. After all, things hadn’t always been this bad. Just a week ago there was rejoicing in the streets over this great Prophet of the people. For years, His…
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Property Poor Church Members
I recently came across an article in a religious periodical published in 1918. The title of that article was the same as the title for this post. The article mentions a man who served as an elder in a local congregation who owned a great deal of property. According to a statement he made, the value of his property was $160,000. His weekly contribution to the local congregation of which he was a member was seventy-five cents! When this man was encouraged to increase his contribution, he said that he could not do that because he was “property poor.” He even claimed that his financial “stress” made it necessary for…
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The Power of Prayer
Recently, I was visiting one of our older members at West Side in the hospital as he was about to go in for surgery. While I was there, an RN came in to run through medications with him and his family and make sure everything was as it should be before his operation. When she found out that I was a minister, she revealed that she herself was married to a pastor (she never mentioned a denomination) and that they had been missionaries both within the United States and abroad in the past. She got even more excited when she learned that we were about to pray together and referenced…
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Storms of Life
In light of all of the storms we’ve had lately, I’ve gone back into my memory bank and recalled my childhood and what would happen then when storms were approaching. We lived next door to my paternal grandparents who had a basement which opened up to the outdoors. My grandma’s kitchen was in that basement and I spent many hours there with her. As most children did in that time, I spent a lot of time playing outside. No one worried about me or the kids in the neighborhood with whom I played. That is, until a summer thunderstorm would blow up. As the clouds gathered and darkened and the…
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So Close, and Yet So Far
Our young people at West Side are some of the best ever. Yes, I know I’m biased when I say that, but I do have evidence to back it up. About three months ago, a few of them approached me with a request. They had noticed that several people had expressed difficulty with daily Bible reading and wanted to set up a system for coming up with topical Bible readings and keeping one another accountable in their reading. They asked me if I could make a group chat that people could join and, if the members of the group chat would decide on a topic each week, whether I could…
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12 Lessons from the Book of Job
This winter, I was fortunate enough to be asked to teach a survey of the book of Job to our main adult class at West Side. This book is one of the richest collections of wisdom poetry in the history of the world, and its insights into the nature of divine justice and deliverance exceed all others. As usual, I feel an immense sense of gratitude for the lessons I have learned through teaching through this book as well as discussing it with others in the process. There are many more than 12 valuable lessons about God that I have learned and relearned through teaching this class. That said, I’d…
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Who Knows?
I feel like these words are an answer more than a question these days. What is this generation thinking with their music? Who knows. What is up with all the changes happening in our world? Who knows. Are we really going to relive 70s fashion? Who knows. Was the groundhog serious about six more weeks? Who knows. In our weekly Wednesday night devotional we heard a famous use of these words, but as a question. In the book of Esther, evil Haman has gotten the king to sign a decree basically sentencing all Jews to death. While encouraging Esther to be brave and go to the king on behalf of…
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Measuring Up
The Bible is full of some of the greatest symbolic imagery ever composed. For one thing, the metaphors of the Bible are expertly crafted and genuinely beautiful, inspiring awe for their Author in and of themselves. Additionally, their beauty and genius are enhanced by their ability to communicate the mind of God in relatable terms and convict their audiences powerfully and personally. One such example that grabbed my attention recently is found in the opening verses of Amos 7 (vv. 1-9). As this chapter of poetic prophecy opens, Amos witnesses God preparing a swarm of locusts to destroy the harvests of Israel. Amos comes to the defense of his people,…
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I Admit My Privilege
No, I’m not talking about that other kind of privilege that people seem to be so concerned with in recent years. Since the Bible has nothing to say about skin color, I think it is absolutely crazy for our culture to be so obsessed with it. Instead, I’m talking about a privilege that is available to everyone and that is far, far greater. It is one that I used to hear described as a “privilege” more often than I do these days, but maybe we need to get back to using that description. In fact, this privilege provides doors of opportunity and communication that nothing else can. Do you want…
