"He should work like the rest of us." Perhaps. I won't argue the point. What I would argue, however, is that in this "common sense" statement of moral outrage and judgement we have committed a fundamental injustice: we have absolved ourselves of collective sin without any notion of reconciliation. Even though we made John. We made him when we bullied him on the playground and in our silence told our kids it was okay. We made him when...Continue Reading

Position or Title:
Pastor
Organization:
CRC
Fear Not
On the list of phobias there is no Greek hybrid that we've brought into the English language to help us describe it. For most – 364 days of the year go by (give or take) – and we are unaffected by the fear of congregational meetings. It's a real thing – by the way – though it is many faceted. It's not just one fear – it's many fears combining...Continue Reading
The Spiritual Cliff
Crafting a sermon is much like any other creative process. It involves a lot of time and research. Writing and re-writing. It also involves travelling down a lot of imaginative roads and seeing where particular lines of thought lead. What happens when you consider a particular text from different perspectives? Do you parse a particular noun as a genitive or a dative? Where do you go when you look at the Scriptures in the context of world events (or local events for that matter)? Where have other preachers gone ...Continue Reading