Our refrigerator died again this week. We saw the writing on the wall when it started making a clunking sound a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully, up here in Vermont where it’s really cold in the Fall and Winter this is not a huge problem since we can just put our food out on our …
We have noted before that the opposite of faith is not disbelief, it is fear. Faith makes us certain, it gives us confident direction in our choices, and it defines our destination and the path that leads to it. Fear introduces questioning, second guessing, worry about what might be. It leaves us wondering and wandering, …
In a few nights a small crowd will gather at Red Door Church for our annual Ash Wednesday service. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a 40 day season (not counting Sundays) of preparation leading up to Easter. Every year I’m overwhelmed with the sheer number of potential Lenten themes. As a pastor, my …
The feast of the Epiphany is celebrated on January 6, and marks the end of the celebration of Christmas. The night preceding Epiphany has been called the Twelfth Night, an acknowledgement that the twelve days of the Christmas celebration are at last complete. The word “epiphany” means a manifestation or an unveiling of something that …
The Christmas story is simply the best story ever told and this for many reasons. First, it was written when the fullness of time had finally come round, and all the very best stories of humankind that had been told and retold throughout the ages found their fulfillment in it. Then too, it was told …
Since becoming a Christian in college I have not attended a church that observed Lent (to my recollection), at least not while they were observing it. I have been active primarily in non-mainline Presbyterian, Baptist, or Independent circles and I gather that these traditions generally do not practice Lent and its attendant days and rituals. …
Maybe the greatest challenge of the Advent and Christmas season is to keep its true meaning in front of us. What is Advent really about? Why the trees and the presents and the caroling and the parties? Why all the hullabaloo? The word advent means “coming.” What’s coming? Who’s coming? Well, when you come to …
Today it’s commonly argued that our Constitution does not allow for any speak of God in our public life by the government or its officials; that God and government cannot and should not be mixed and that to do so is to violate our Constitution’s most sacred ideals (or not-so-sacred ideals). For example, groups like …
“…if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain…” I Corinthians 15:14 Webster’s dictionary defines vain as “having no real value, marked by futility or ineffectualness, foolish.” That which is vain has an appearance that would make it desirable to our eyes, but it has no substance or worth …
