“He is risen!” “He is risen indeed!” For centuries, this has been the traditional greeting between Christians on Easter Sunday. It’s a greeting used in many Easter church services, with the priest or pastor saying, “He is risen!” and the congregation responding “He is risen indeed!” In some church services, congregants may use a Greek or Latin version of these phrases. For example, in the Eastern Orthodox church, the priest will say, “Christos Anesti!” (“Christ is Risen!”) to which the people respond, “Alithos Anesti!” (“Truly, He is risen!”). Roman Catholic priests may say the Latin, “Christ ..read more

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:35-38 ESV) The disciples had been with Jesus. They had heard him teach, seen him heal, seen him cast out demons. And that same Jesus who did all ..read more

During the Christmas season, many homes will be adorned by a decorated evergreen tree. This tradition began in Germany in the 18th century, where upper-class homes displayed a tannenbaum, or Christmas tree, occasionally decorated with candles. Candles were glued to tree branches with melted wax or attached by pins. In the late 19th century, candleholders began to be used for Christmas candles. But something happened during the Christmas season of 1879 that would change that tradition of candles lighting a Christmas tree. In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison, after finally inventing a ligh ..read more

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (1 Corinthians 13:7 NLT) On my phone, I have an app called the Bible App, and one of the features of that app is the Verse of the Day. As I read today’s verse, 1 Corinthians 13:7, the first thought that I had was that this verse perfectly describes the love of a mother. It certainly describes the love of my mom, who passed away in 2007. It certainly describes the love of all the other mothers in my life, my wife, my daughter, my sisters, and all the other moms in my family. And so, as I write a ..read more

In chapter 4, verse 6 of his letter to the believers in Philippi, Paul told them that they should not worry about anything. Can you imagine receiving a letter from someone telling you that? What would your response be? “Sure, Paul, easy for you to say! You don’t know what I’m going through. If you did, you’d be just as worried as I am! What do you suggest I do?” Paul answers that in the second part of this verse: “…instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” When we are worried about the problems we face, we need to take that worry to God and ta ..read more

In a short poem titled “Joe Heller” which was published in The New Yorker magazine in 2005, author Kurt Vonnegut gave an account of a conversation between him and fellow author Joseph Heller. The conversation took place at a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island. Mr. Vonnegut pointed out to Mr. Heller that their billionaire host made more in one day than Heller’s novel Catch-22 made in its entire history. Heller’s response was that he had something that the billionaire did not. When Vonnegut asked what that was, Heller responded by saying that it was the knowledge that he (Heller) ha ..read more

I sat in my office reflecting on God’s Word as I prepared for our Wednesday night prayer service. As I thought about the many prayer requests that we had received that week, the Holy Spirit put an image on my heart. It was an image of one of the many people in the Gospel who were healed by Jesus, the woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. In Mark 5, we read that this woman had been treated by many doctors, spending her life’s savings, but still had received no relief. In fact, as we read in Mark 5:26, she had gotten worse. So now, she crawled on her hands and knees th ..read more

On a recent visit to my eye doctor, as the doctor was checking my eyesight, she inserted various combinations of lenses in the machine and asked which was better. “Which is better? One…,” she asked before flipping to the next lens, “…or two?” “Well,” I responded, “two is better, but I’m seeing double.” “Okay,” she said. “How about three… or four.” “Three is definitely better. But I’m still seeing double.” After a few more combinations of lenses, with the same result, the doctor looked at me and said, “I think you have cataracts.” She then proceeded to examine my eyes and determined that the l ..read more

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you wi ..read more

2020 has been a very different kind of year. We have had to do everything in ways that are different, including church. For many churches, services have been online only, for most of the year. For others, while there may have been indoor services, they were done at smaller capacity with social distancing and face coverings in place. Ministries in our churches have been done differently, if at all. Many of us may be saying that we don’t understand all of this, we don’t like it, because it is not what we are used to. It’s not the way we want church to be. It’s different! Even Christmas is differ ..read more