Who are you embarrassed by?

“Show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory” (James 2:1) I recently witnessed an online conversation about COVID-19 vaccines, regarding a doctor who was advocating for the vaccines. One individual, who claims to be a...

Disruptive church

I’m currently reading a book called Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age, by Alan Noble. It suggests that our “distracted age” of ever-present social media, news, sports, streaming shows, etc., keeps us from reflecting on the deeper realities and...

God gives a “messenger of Satan”?

This past week, I preached from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, the passage about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. We focused on the role of weakness and difficulty in the Christian life, and God’s will to draw us into deeper dependence and contentment in him. As usual, there is a...

More than a political party or social cause

This past Sunday we looked at Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18). In the parable, the Pharisee’s disposition and attitude towards God is one of relief that he is “not like other men.” He considers those who are known to be sinners or at...

Committed to mercy

Something that we have seen repeatedly in our journey through the Minor Prophets is that God has committed himself to a course of action that depends on his extending mercy. From before time began, God set in motion a plan that would require his compassionate and...

God is not mild in his affections

One of the most significant and pressing questions we are constantly asking, even if subconsciously, is, “What does God think about me?” Or, “How does God see me,” “What is God’s disposition or heart or affections towards me?” And our answer to this question has...

Always reforming: A pastoral confession

Those who know me have likely heard me say something along these lines: Everyone has a theology, and everyone is doing theology all the time. That is, everyone has ideas of who God is or isn’t, and these ideas are continually being shaped by, while also themselves...

A plea for reasonableness

I write this first and foremost to my church, to those I know and love, to those who claim Christ and display it with their lives. While I would love to extend this plea to Christians more broadly, my responsibility and my heart go first to the health, love and...

Reflections on a new year

Closing off one year and beginning a new year provides a good time for reflection. As I reflect on our life together as a church at this moment, there are so many things that come to mind. The story of a church is always a complex picture that includes the individual...