Easter. Buying new clothes. Celebrating the coming of Spring. The Easter Bunny. Pictures. Easter egg hunts. Family. Food. Even...going to church. Humans always have a way of surrounding the real issue with "stuff" so that the real issue can hardly be seen anymore. But due to the current Covid19 situation, this Easter none of the aforementioned things will be a reality. It would appear that all the man-made add-ons we've attached to the Resurrection of our Lord have been dismissed this year; stripped, if you will. Perhaps that's a good thing. Perhaps this Resurrection season we can actually foc ..read more

The crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus occupy a central place in the doctrine and doxology of the church. This is just as it should be. These two redemptive events in the life of the Savior mark his climactic entrance into, and final triumph over, the forces of sin, death, and the Devil. And so Christians rightly register a deep sense of awe and amazement when contemplating a crucified God on Good Friday and an empty Tomb on Easter Sunday. However, we admit that we don't register the same sense of awe when it comes to Christmas Day when we commemorate the INCARNATION of the Son of ..read more

Most church members do not want the kind of pastoring that the New Testament calls for.  I’ll leave that there. In 1 & 2 Timothy, the Apostle Paul writes to young Pastor Timothy about his pastoral job obligations.  Here’s what Paul DID NOT say: * have a vision, share it, and maintain it at all costs, * preach to the perceived needs of “seekers”, * create “environments” that mirror the world’s entertainment so you can attract world-based and carnally-motivated people, * mollycoddle certain church members who are there only to promote themselves, let themselves be heard, play out t ..read more

By American Christian standards, I must not be a good Christian… I don’t like most of the Christian music on my local Christian radio station, I don’t like most of the Christian bric-a-brac found in Christian book stores (heck, I don’t like many of the Christian BOOKS found in Christian bookstores), I don’t tend to be a big fan of most of the popular “preachers” these days, I don’t believe Jesus belongs to a particular political party, I don’t believe in “blood moons”, I don’t believe the Bible teaches that I am to be wealthy and healthy all the time, I don’t don’t believe the e ..read more

Sturgis story: In Deadwood SD, I went into a store front that the Hell's Angels rented . They were recruiting new members. There were HA chapters there from all over the West. I'm not advocating for the HA but they were some of the friendliest people I've ever met. They were so friendly I almost joined! LOL. Seriously, churches ought to be the friendliest places in town. Not just a quick "Hey" and move on but a real taking interest in people and getting to know them. We should work on that ..read more

In the Old Testament, Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem (a great work). His enemies entreated him to leave the work and come down to talk to them but their motive was to simply do him harm. Nehemiah's reply to his enemies? "I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?" (Nehemiah 6:1-4) Your enemies will probably never change. Answer them with an adamant "NO" and get back to the great work to which God has called you ..read more

The Incarnation is a monumental rebuke of our misguided attempts to please God in the flesh. It proves to us the contention of Scripture that there is none that seeks after God, no not one. It reinforces the claim of Scripture that in the flesh there dwells no good thing. It loudly proclaims that any reconciliation with God is never accomplished from this side of humanity. It sets before us the unsettling yet liberating reality that reconciliation between God and humanity is accomplished only and forever from the side of God. It sets forth the absolute impossibility for us to accomplish our o ..read more

The Incarnation (God becoming flesh) can also be called the Downward Mobility of God's Son. In the 80s and 90s, baby Boomers participated in what sociologists termed as upward mobility. By that they meant that Baby Boomers had a constant obsession with and willingness to sacrifice health and relationships for new cars, bigger houses, better jobs, nicer clothes, and giving their kids better than they had received...upward mobility. The Incarnation of Jesus is the opposite of that. The Incarnation shows us Jesus' willingness to participate in downward mobility. He already had it all but he left ..read more

In the wake of the current Covid19 crises, many churches have gone to streaming their worship experiences online (and that is a good thing – the church I pastor is doing this). Also, there’s been an uptick in comments like “the church is not about the building anyway” (which is true) and “get out of the building and into the world” (which is a noble endeavor). Also, in recent years there’s been a strong emphasis from many pastors as to building “online communities/churches”. They seek viewers from “around the world” to allow them to be their pastor and their church to be the viewer’s church ..read more

Yesterday I visited a local Christian bookstore.  Although I love to read and books are treasures to me, I don’t go to bookstores too much anymore … has to do with a little something called AMAZON.COM. As I walked through this particularly denominational bookstore (the denomination I was brought up and trained in), three questions came to my mind… 1.  Why is there so much Jesus junk?  I don’t like “Jesus junk”.  I know it’s a personal thing but I just get tired of Jesus bookmarks, coffee cups, wall plaques, t-shirts, statues, ribbons, hats, pins, rings, etc., etc.  Jes ..read more