Reality and Hope in 2020
The Village Pastor
by
4y ago
Turning a calendar page hasn't changed much--and that's both a very bad and a very good thing. As I write this, the U.S. is dealing with the fallout after our military carried out a strike that killed iran's leading general in Iraq, prompting promises of furious retaliation. This follows Iran's sending its Iraqi allies to storm the U.S. embassy the week before. 2020 is already a year of war and bloodshed amid intractable conflicts. I also read of a Chinese pastor sentenced to nine years in prison on false charges, due to his public objections to government crackdowns on his congregation and ..read more
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The Word Came... to the Sasak
The Village Pastor
by
4y ago
This summer, Kathy and I visited the Museum of the Bible during our sabbatical stop in the Washington, D.C. area. It was well worth the day spent there. We saw all sorts of displays and records of the transmission of God's Word to people. But an unexpected joy was the discovery of a room filled with translations of the Bible. As impressive as it was, there was one translation that stood out for us. It was the Sasak New Testament, produced on the island of Lombok in Indonesia. And we felt incredible joy to see it there. Why? Because from 1990 to 2005, we were eyewitnesses to the process ..read more
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Two stories give different but not contradictory evidence
The Village Pastor
by
4y ago
Reasons to Believe This morning I did what I do after breakfast (hopefully not before). I looked at my Facebook feed, and quickly discovered two stories, both of which I had seen before (one numerous times). The more familiar one was the story of a hole in the ground, and what was found there. The newer one was the story of a hug. The hole in the ground is in northern Israel, where archeologists found a church dating from the 5th century A.D. that had been burned and later buried over the centuries. As they excavated, they found that the floor of the church was covered with beautiful mosaic ..read more
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In the World of St. Kanye
The Village Pastor
by
4y ago
Wondering about faith, creativity, and celebrity  We have been introduced to a new moment in our culture as Kanye West has been very publicly invoking faith in Jesus--not in the clearest terms, but still... Recent news is that his long promised album, "Jesus is King," did not release as originally promised. That may or may not be a big disappointment to you, and knowing most of my subscribers, you probably weren't even aware that the album was coming. And some of you aren't sure who Kanye West is. Suffice it to say that he has been a one man celebrity and music dynamo, along with his wife ..read more
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Worship is Heart Work
The Village Pastor
by
4y ago
“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” —Matthew 15:8, quoting Isaiah 29:13 Jesus quotes himself (as God’s revealer) from Isaiah’s prophecy, indicating that both the people of his own time, and the Israelites of 700 years prior had a shared condition. They each knew how to say the right things about and to God, but they were words devoid of conviction. While speaking of God in ways that sounded like praise and obedience, they actually were not occupied with thoughts of him at all. The next verse in both contexts says that they replaced God’s instruction w ..read more
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9/11 Memories--Eighteen Years Later
The Village Pastor
by
4y ago
Eighteen years. Incoming freshmen at the university up the street from my office have no memory of a pre-9/11 world, of a time when our nation was not at war. That day (and those that followed) are etched in my memory, disbelief turning to horror in a few hours after waking up (we lived on the west coast then). Watching and rewatching the footage of planes used as missiles and towers dropping to the ground. Watching the Pentagon in flames. Hearing of the passengers on a doomed plane thwarting their hijackers' plans at the cost of their lives ending in a field in Pennsylvania. Images of peop ..read more
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Strong, Crushed, Renewed?
The Village Pastor
by
5y ago
What is the condition of your spirit?Proverbs 18:14 says "A man's spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?" This offering from the wisest of teachers lets us know a few things about that part of us that we can't see but governs the whole of our life--our spirit. First, it tells us that our spirit can "endure sickness." Infirmities, diseases, and illnesses are hard for us to take, especially when they linger and when their symptoms are severe. Even so, we know that people find ways to endure such hardships. We tell stories of people who dealt with such things in ways th ..read more
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Ascension Day: When Christians Should be Looking Up!
The Village Pastor
by
5y ago
Today is Ascension Day, forty days after Resurrection Day (Easter). The Bible tells us that it was after forty days on earth, during which time Jesus appeared publicly twice in the upper room to his disciples (John 20:19-29), once in Galilee to a large crowd of followers (Matthew 28:16-20), picnicked with some of the eleven after a night of fishing on the Sea of Galilee (John 21:4-14), and met with them again in Jerusalem (Acts 1:6). Luke makes it plain that during these days he offered "many proofs" that he was, in fact, the same Jesus who was alive again (Acts 1:3). He also told them that gr ..read more
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Significance, Suffering, and Sovereignty
The Village Pastor
by
5y ago
We want the first, avoid the second, and ignore the thirdAnd James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you ..read more
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Out of Control!
The Village Pastor
by
5y ago
We are reminded daily that we are not in charge.This week, I have had nearly a dozen conversations with people that have in some way pointed out that plans made did not happen. Things thought certain turned out to be illusory. Decisions that seemed to be no-brainers turned out to be wrong. As one person said it, "Nothing here seems to be going according to plan." Even my devotions sounded this note during the week. That should not be a new discovery for us, but an acknowledgement of settled reality. Oh, I don't mean that there isn't a plan that is being carried out. It's just not yours, or mi ..read more
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