Thoughts on Life and Worship

  Good evening, and Merry Christmas to everyone of you who have come to worship with us tonight and also to those who have joined us on line.   I have always loved attending, planning, and leading Christmas Eve services.   It is hard for me to embrace the idea that this will be my last Christmas Eve service that I will plan and lead as I am retiring from pastoral ministry and pivoting to become a hospice chaplain in less than a month.   It’s almost shocking to myself to say that.   Nevertheless, Christmas Eve services seem almost magical with all the beautiful lights and music.   As the Christmas Story unfolds through the service order, my emotions have never ceased to stir with wonder of how the omnipotent God who created the whole vast universe would condescend to become a helpless little baby.   But not only does the Christmas Story and the accompanying carols cause me to pause in wonder-filled worship, my heart is also warmed by being together wi...

It has been said that God is a God of surprises.   The way my mom tells it, each of her five kids were little surprises from God.   We’ve had a little surprise come our way as well.   (No, Diane’s not pregnant!)   I don’t know if it is the pandemic or our advancing age on the backside of our sixties.   It’s been over sixteen years since we moved away from our family and we are saddened as we watch our grandchildren and one great-grandchild grow up without us being there.   Next month our great-grandson will be two years old and I’ve never held him or spoken directly to him.   We began to wonder if we could make it in this role for the next three years or if that would even be the best way to spend those years of our life.   A pastor needs to remember that his family is his first line of ministry and it sometimes seems like I’ve been negligent.   So, Diane and I began to wonder and pray if God wasn’t leading me to retire from local church mini...

  I wouldn’t call myself a “Trekkie.”   Never been to a convention.   I haven’t seen all the movies and I didn’t really care for any of the franchises beyond “Next Generation.”   I thought William Shatner in the first series was hilarious – always overacting – a virtual parody of himself.   The ensemble in “Next Generation” was quite good.   Casting Patrick Stewart with his commanding voice and presence as Captain Jean-Luc Picard was a stroke of genius.   I especially liked the way he gave orders.   After ensuring all the proper procedures were in place, he would firmly issue his command, “Engage!”   We’ve been dealing with this pandemic now for over a year and a half.   It seems there are more hills to climb in our journey together.   Nevertheless, there is a sense, it seems to me, among most people that it is time to get on with living.   This isn’t a political piece or a personal statement on masking.   Those issues a...

It was just a month ago that I attended the Juneteenth Celebration hosted by Pastor James Hailey and Allen Chapel at Standish Park.  I hadn’t known much about the history of the day and I was grateful that the City of Galesburg was able to have such an informative and inspiring event.  Pastor Hailey was gracious enough to even invite me to deliver the Scripture reading from Psalm 126, part of which read, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”  And, indeed, the event was a joyful experience.  What struck me the most about Juneteenth in Standish Park was the proclamation of the gospel.  Over and over, whether in stories, testimonies, songs, or preaching, the power of the love and faithfulness of Jesus Christ was heard.  As a pastor, I have ears to hear it, of course.  But the message of the Good News could not be missed on that blessed afternoon.  A lot of water has passed under the bridge since the racial unrest of the 1960’s and 70’s....

    Introduction – Apollo 13 and Our Current Malaise On April 11, 1970, the crew of Apollo 13, the third attempt to land men on the moon, blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center on the Florida coast. Three days into the mission and nearly a quarter of a million miles from earth, there was an explosion in one of the oxygen tanks.   The crew’s message to earth has been immortalized: “ Houston, we have a problem .”   The mission, which had been focused on exploration and discovery was radically changed in a moment.   All of the efforts of the crew and their support team on earth were now focused on the men’s survival and return home.   They abandoned their plan to land on the moon and, instead, circled around it in order to use its gravitational pull to “sling-shot” the craft back to earth.   The whole saga of improvisation and survival was effectively dramatized on film in 1995.   In a sense, I believe that we, in American culture, may be havi...

  Moses had it all.  He was special.  He should have been drowned in the Nile River by an edict of the king. But the king’s daughter rescued him and adopted him, raising him in the palace as her own son.  He received a royal education from the most powerful nation in the world.  Moses was being groomed to be a special leader. But something wasn’t right in his spirit.  Moses was a Hebrew.  He was from the same family of people who were mercilessly enslaved to serve his adopted family and build the colossal edifices of ancient Egypt.  As he grew older, he began to resent the power of the empire in which he had been raised.  The tension between the privileges he had enjoyed in the palace and the injustices that his brethren endured in slavery gnawed incessantly on his mind.  Through his inner turmoil, Moses began to envision a purposeful plan for his life.  He would use his power and influence as a member of the royal family to set h...

  “Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I’ve come...”  Those were the original words to the second stanza of Robert Robinson’s famous hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Ev’ry Blessing.”  Most modern hymnal publishers have changed the wording because people have become less biblically literate and don’t recognize the reference to “raising an ‘Ebenezer.’”   (Hint:  It has nothing to do with a Christmas story!)  In the early chapters of the book of I Samuel in the Hebrew Scriptures, we observe Israel being harassed by their perennial enemies, the Philistines.  It is, actually, their own fault.  They had abandoned their worship and service to their one God, Yahweh, and, instead had adopted the pagan practices of the surrounding culture.  In a fascinating and sometimes humorous story, the Philistines captured the Israelite’s “Ark of the Covenant,” which was an important symbol of Yahweh’s presence among his people.  They made the mistak...

  The week of April 11-17 was horrendous for our country in terms of violence.  There were multiple mass shootings along with riots in several of our cities.  I am writing and submitting this piece early in the following week because of my personal schedule.  I fear the week of April 18-24 may be even worse.  Lord, have mercy on our foolishness! Certainly, there are very real factors contributing to the violence that we are experiencing. Systemic racism is pervasive and a reality for far too many in our culture.   But despite all of the campaigns and slogans, racial divisions seem to be growing among us rather than healing.   And to be sure, the necessary shut-downs and stay-ins that were proper mitigations to stop the spread of the corona virus have only raised the heat on our disaffections with each other.   We need another way to try and live together. In Jesus’ day, Jewish society was awash in injustice.   The wealthy Jewish religious...

  I am a “middle-child,” the youngest of three brothers with a sister five years behind me.   It’s in my nature to negotiate and try to get along.   I suppose that’s why I get so easily disheartened by the polarized culture in which we find ourselves today.   The lack of civility and courtesy seems most often apparent on social media where you can say whatever you want without the threat of getting smacked in the face.   Because I am very interested in cultural matters, I will read and occasionally comment on a post that is political in nature.   I am rarely encouraged by the feedback that I receive.   I often wonder why I even bother to engage.   Let me share where I’m coming from… When offering my thoughts regarding cultural or political matters (theological matters as well), I state them as my opinion rather than fact.   The use of “IMO” (in my opinion) can be very helpful in diffusing heat in a political discussion, allowing it to con...