Recent Posts
Words Matter
The Bible tells us that God created everything by simply speaking His Word. “Let there be light,” God says, and suddenly the universe is bright and luminous. God speaks the word of “life” and fish, birds, wild animals, and human beings made in his image all spring into being.
As image bearers of God, God has uniquely gifted us with the power of creative, generative speech. Of course, many animals can bark, twitter, or moo in ways that convey basic information to other members of their species. But only human beings can create new realities with words: books, songs, Sci-Fi films, games.
BYOB – Bring Your Own Bible
This Sunday, new things will be stirring all around our church. One of the big new beginnings will be evident in our worship gathering as a nine-month-long “Walk-Through-the-Bible.” There are a few practical recommendations that I’m going to make here in the spirit of helping you to maximize the spiritual benefit from this journey:
Bring your own Bible to church
A shocking recommendation, I know! For many decades, Elmhurst CRC was the kind of church that always had Bibles in the pews, and in more recent years, we’ve projected the words of Scripture on screens, but that’s about to change.
The Ironic Holiday - Ora et Labora
Labor Day has always struck me as the most ironic of holidays. Recognized by our Federal Government since 1894, Labor Days call upon the citizens of the United States to celebrate the dignity and value of hard work by joining together to NOT do any work at all!
This is all a bit tongue-in-cheek, but imagine a world in which birthday celebrations were organized to deliberately ignore the person who was born on a particular day. Or picture a Memorial Day parade dedicated solely to looking toward the future. Or imagine if Christmas Day were devoted to commerce rather than focusing on God’s greatest gift to us — wait a minute! Maybe Labor Day gets the silver medal as an “ironic holiday.”
The Forest for the Tress
There’s an old saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” I never quite understood what this meant when I was a kid, but it dawned on me in early adulthood that I was frequently getting bogged down in the details (of a piece of music in particular), that I’d end up missing the meaning and significance of the bigger picture, or the larger artistic message. Perhaps I’m not alone in this struggle.
When it comes to the Bible, it’s oh-so-easy to spiritually miss the forest (God’s main message) for the trees (the oddities and intricacies of the thousands of stories and passages in Scripture). Rest assured, our pastors and Elders are well aware of this spiritual pitfall and are purposefully leading our congregation to a fresh, wide angle view of God’s mighty forest.
Fall Curriculum
The school year is suddenly upon us! It’s a season to grow and learn—for all of us, not just the kids. It's the growing season for all of us who are students in God’s school. Perhaps you’re like me and realize that you’ve still got an awful lot to learn as an apprentice of Jesus. Yes, Jesus is our Lord and Savior. And he’s also our Teacher, Guide, Master, and Instructor. Jesus' favored method of instruction typically utilizes his go-to book, the Bible, to help us learn and grow. More than 500 years ago, a Pastor named John Calvin put it very simply, “Scripture is the curriculum of the Holy Spirit for us.”
Matters of Life and Death
My extended family has a saying, typically used when someone needs to calm down during an anxious moment: “It’s not a matter of life and death, is it?” Typically, the calmest person in the room intones these words in the direction of somebody who’s struggling to keep it together - it rarely helps! In my own internal dialogue, this mantra still occasionally breaks through as a way to slow down and stay grounded. But, every now and again, things really are a matter of life and death. What then? Is it time to freak out, spiral down, totally lose it for a little bit?!