Let me tell you a true story that happened some time ago. A young boy’s father died in a car wreck when he was only 12 years old. He read it in a newspaper before anyone got word to him to tell him about it. When he saw the picture of the family car smashed up on the front page of the...
Mary and Joe treasured the many happy times in their marriage, perhaps because, in retrospect, tragedy intruded so often. They surely faced more than their fair share of sickness, financial problems and accidents. And what with Joe Jr.'s ill-fated trip down drug alley, well, life hadn't been all...
*Quotes From “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Clairborne. Borrow it from Pastor Dean if you dare to read it, for it will not leave you unchallenged or unchanged! If you ask most people what Christians believe, they can tell you that Jesus is God’s Son and that he rose...
Church Family, As servants of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, we come to you with an urgent need for prayer, Our congregation’s Biblical watchword for 2021, “Christ is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14) calls us to doing prayerful deeds of peace. As...
A Christmas Eve devotional message from the bishops of our province, taken from a devotional for Moravian pastors, “26 Points” ON THE TWENTY-SITXH DAY OF ADVENT, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2020...My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?...
We sang “We in one covenant are joined, and one in Jesus are” earlier. Covenanting is a grand thing, a sacred choice. It is an expression of our bond in Jesus, like the sacred bond we have with our spouse, if we are married.As one of your pastors I have been in covenant with you to...
Recently a customary “How ya doin?” greeting from an acquaintance brought out of me a surprising, unexpected, unwanted, and unpleasant response. It was followed immediately by my apology, and my explanation that I’m only human, and I wake up each morning, and sometimes in the...
I’ve been thinking of the changes in my life, since the corona virus flew into town. What have I been missing the most, or what changes bother me the most? What’s the greatest challenge for me?--Not eating at a restaurant? No. Liz is a terrific cook, and we’ve had some great...
Prayed by Calvin University professor, Chad Engbers, at the chapel service onMarch 12, 2020, just before the campus was closed, because of the coronavirus pandemic.Merciful God, we need you so much. When we look around, we see disease everywhere; when we look within, we see our sin. You desire...
Worship happens…… in different languages,… in different cultures,… in different styles.… in different theologies,… in different traditions,… in different settings,But, up until these days, worship always happened with a gathering together of the...