Are patriotism and Christian faith compatible? Some voices say no. They would have us, as Christians, separate from everything they deem to be worldly. For many of them, involving ourselves in the national concerns of our country would fall outside of our Christian commitment. Many in our world today take
This post is based on a little sermon I preached at our Three-Fold Communion Service on Palm Sunday, 2026.The so-called one-another passages have been emphasized by lots of preachers and teachers over the years. In the New Testament particularly, there are many commands given in the context of one another.
One of the most important questions we might wrestle with has to do with the existence of God. When you personalize this question, it becomes “why do I believe in God?” In other words, what convinces us that God exists? I’d like to share with you three factors that have
Thanksgiving is a cherished American holiday. Yet the concept of giving thanks has been around since long before the United States even existed. One major implication of Thanksgiving is that there is Someone to whom we are giving thanks. I wonder how many families sit around a beautifully prepared turkey
The concept of reincarnation is reflected in a lot of the culture and even entertainment we are exposed to these days. Reincarnation is the idea that our souls pass through different physical lives over the course of history. This idea would suggest that our souls have existed before in different
This question about church membership came to me in August of 2024. Unfortunately I lost the card it was originally written on. So I have done my best to boil down the basic thrust of the question. A lot of today’s Christians realize that we are united to Christ’s body
I received the following question in writing on August 25, 2024. “Do we have to pray for the fruits of the Spirit? Or, because we accept Christ does He give us what we need for our lives without asking?” Before answering this, I think it’s important to lay out what
This article is based on a message preached at our Candlelight Christmas Eve Service in 2018. “4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5
I received a question along these lines on August 18th, 2024. The original question was worded as follows. “Can you explain the recent trend of Christians involved with drinking alcoholic beverages? IE., wine tours, brewery tours, overt beer and wine, mixed drink, drinking?” When I stumbled into the church in
This question came to me in this exact wording on August 8th, 2024. There has been a trend in the last several years of people choosing cremation for themselves or their loved ones upon their passing. How to treat the remains of the deceased is something filled with all kinds