This is our pastor’s newsletter article for October 2019. Ancient peoples dreaded the deep. The darkened abyss gurgled with predatory beasts, fanged creatures to swallow you whole, hungering for more. Today, those shrieking, mythical denizens still fill us with wonder, if not terror. In the Bible, the book of Job mentions the leviathan and other […]
Mark 7:24-37: Knocked Down by Sin and Death
September 13, 2018 by
In less than a week, two deaths—Sandy Webb and Donna Kind-Gappa. So close together, we are left unable to make sense of this. Inside, we are a mess of emotions, disturbed and rattled. Somehow, this smacks of betrayal. For if God is real, how can he let this happen, a few days apart? Only a […]
The Comfort in our Grief
July 2, 2017 by
This is our pastor’s article for the July-August edition of our congregational newsletter. The Apostle Paul directs us not to be unaware about those who left this life trusting in God. Why? “So you will not grieve like others, as those without hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). So we are reminded, once more, of this […]
Sermon for Bobbie Hansen’s Funeral: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: Remember the Resurrection
November 21, 2014 by
When memory fades and recognition falters, when eyes we love grow dim and minds confused, speak to our souls of love that never alters; speak to our hearts, by pain and fear abused. O God of life and healing peace, empower us with patient courage, by your grace infused. As frailness grows, and youthful strengths […]
The Didache, Lesson 9: The Way of Death
March 6, 2012 by
After describing the way of Life, the Didache moves on to chapter 5, which describes the way of death. 5:1 In contrast, this is the way of death. It is evil and fully cursed: Murders, adulteries, lusts, sexual immoralities, thefts, idolatries, magic arts, sorceries, robberies, false accusations, hypocrisies, double-dealing, deceit, arrogance, malice, self-will, greediness, abusive […]
Confessing Christ to Someone Near Death
December 1, 2010 by
Someone in my parish asked, “Pastor, how do I confess Jesus Christ to someone dying in hospice?” This is what I shared. With someone in hospice, there’s no need to dance around the subject of death. Most likely, the person knows something is seriously wrong with him and that he is dying. See this as an opportunity […]
