Squirrels and Salvation

Yesterday morning, I received an urgent call from my Dad: there was a squirrel in the church! It’s unclear how it got in, but apparently it was up near the choir loft and appeared stuck, perhaps frozen in fear. I thought several things on my way to the church building. Would we be able to …

Navigating the tension of new beginnings

New year, new possibilities. The potential of clean slates and fresh starts stirs our hopes. Resolved to do things better, we embark upon new beginnings. But of course, before long our resolve is tested with tension that pushes back. It is in the throes of such tension we feel our old nature clawing into our …

Fanning faith’s flame at Advent

Throughout the Christmas season there is a word I try to keep at the forefront of my mind to help keep my faith focused. That word is Advent. It means coming, and historically the word has been used by some Christians to instill in the minds of the faithful a sense of anticipation of the …

The Lamppost of a New World

For some time, the street in front of our church building has been under construction, but it has finally been completed. While stopping by there one recent evening to drop some papers off, I looked up the sidewalk, and standing tall on the corner was a new streetlamp. Not an average wood pole and light, …

Churching in the Rain

Several months after graduating from college with a ministry degree, I was still looking for a church to serve. During this search a friend persuaded me to move to South Korea with him. My prayer at the time was I would be fine with going as long as I could do ministry. That ministry blessedly …

What the Church might yet learn from Billy Graham

I must confess I struggle to know what the term Evangelical means anymore. I know that in the Greek, it originally meant good news or gospel. While I find that to be the most clarifying sense of the word, for over many years now it seems to have also taken on nuances of historical nostalgia, political …

A thought for when nothing seems to matter

Fun fact: If in certain seasons you’ve struggled with the thought that nothing matters, you are viewing the world through the lenses of nihilism. Stemming from the Latin word meaning “nothing”, nihilism is, writes philosophy professor James Sire, “more of a feeling than a philosophy. Nihilism is not a philosophy at all but a denial …

Do you know you are loved?

In Oliver Stone’s epic biographical interpretation Nixon, the controversial filmmaker makes much of Nixon’s personal insecurities as the driving force behind most of his professional decision-making. There is a scene near the end where, as Richard Nixon’s presidency is imploding, one of his last remaining advisors, Henry Kissinger, is watching a televised speech in which …

God is up to something good

I was recently at a Barnes and Noble, relaxing with a crossword puzzle and a black French Roast.  I would occasionally glance up and look out over the rows of shelves containing their wealth of words and wisdom.  On one such glance I saw a table with books piled up; in the middle was a …

Why the prodigal son needed his older brother

Monday night I watched the season three finale of “Better Call Saul”, Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould’s wonderful prequel series to their incomparable “Breaking Bad” series. Through consistent simmering narrative, we gradually learn what is pushing the likable elder-law lawyer Jimmy McGill towards becoming the amoral scumbag Saul Goodman who protects and defends Albuquerque’s criminals. …