Pastor's Blog

The well-known song “Mary, Did You Know?” has been a staple of contemporary Christian Christmas music for over thirty years. The song propounds a number of questions to Mary about Christ’s birth that, while pensive, can seem rhetorical. This has led to its criticism: social media is often ripe this time of year with nay-sayers who post memes and contribute vacuous comment-section banter: “Mary knew she would birth the Messiah,” the more tactful comments retort, “the angel Gabriel told her.”

I’m not just coming back to my house. A house is a building with a couple of walls, windows and doors. When I say I am coming home, it is to a place where I belong, a placed filled with memories, a place that when I get there, I am eagerly welcomed. I’m coming home!

Really can’t we just talk to God at our homes and be done? Isn’t it in the bible somewhere that God is with us, even in our homes? And if God is with us at restaurants and golf courses and couches then why bother with going to this building every week?

24“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

You know those moments.‍ When someone does something to you that you don’t appreciate.‍ After a sneer, a smirk, or an inappropriate verbal explosion, you turn to the offender and sarcastically say, “Thanks a lot!”

Ann Powell, age 92, died last week and for the past several days, every time I think of her, it puts a smile on my face.On Tuesdays she would come to the church office to answer the phones while we had our staff meetings. She would often bring in the crossword puzzle to work on and I would stop by her desk to help her with a couple of clues before the meeting.

The two weeks of fall we had were wonderful, but now the cold has come. It’s time to pull out the winter coats. We must bundle up before walking outside. It feels like winter!

It’s time for another COVID check-in. How are you doing? More importantly, how are your children? Whether you’re a parent, grandparent, aunt/uncle, godparent, teacher, or friend … how are the children in your life hanging in there? 

Since I shared a letter last week announcing my call to serve as a Navy Chaplain, Megan and I have received many kind notes of support and well wishes for which we are so grateful. We have also gotten some good questions. As a follow up, I thought I would use the Pastor’s Blog this week to try and answer some of the most common ones.

Since I shared a letter last week announcing my call to serve as a Navy Chaplain, Megan and I have received many kind notes of support and well wishes for which we are so grateful. We have also gotten some good questions. As a follow up, I thought I would use the Pastor’s Blog this week to try and answer some of the most common ones.

Every year. Do you do it too? I call it an exercise in futility. And it is hard work! You know. The annual ritual of trying to make something beautiful that has obviously struggled to thrive. Lack of care has led to its demise. And, once again, much effort and expense are poured into bringing it back to life. It seems futile. But, the annual lawn aeration, fertilization, and over-seeding exercise has been completed…again. Now, we’ll see if change happens. Do you do it too?

On the surface, the words Included and Inclusion seem to have very similar meanings. In fact, to most people, they have the same meaning, and they don’t give them a second thought.

I got a new IWatch for Christmas. At first, I didn’t want something so “smart.” The idea of constantly getting emails and texts on my wrist didn’t seem appealing. But I have grown to LOVE my watch. One of the best features is that I can answer my phone with my watch. Sometimes… ok a lot of the time, I lay my phone down and go into another room. Yet, I can still answer my phone. It’s great! But there’s one feature that I still don’t know what I think about it.

We all question the significance of our place in the world from time to time. We read how God has redeemed and claimed us as His own, and yet don’t truly understand what to do with such information other than to store it away in a mental filing cabinet or hang it on your wall as a bragging right. What are we honestly called to do with the message God communicated to us? Where do we fit into the greater story? Is the Gospel still relevant today?

As I watched my youngest son play his first soccer game Saturday morning, I was praying for those countless families who were directly impacted by the loss of a loved one. I grieved for them. Because no, even after 20 years, we as a nation haven’t just “moved on.” We have certainly “moved forward” but as with any grief, I’m not sure you ever fully “move on.”