Pastor's blog - Hope Reformed Church

Making Church Make Sense: Worship

2010-04-23T19:22:23Z

The crowd made him who he was. This last week Julie and I watched a movie called The Wrestler. The movie follows Randy through the high’s and low’s of a professional wrestler. Don’t worry, no spoiler alerts. But I will tell you that it’s about a guy named Robin who likes to be called Randy. When he’s wrestling in the ring he goes by the name, “Ram.” He’s Randy “the Ram” Robinson. Randy has bleached blond hair, a dark tan, and big muscles. He looked the part of a professional wrestler, but it was the crowd that made him who he was.

God Helps...

2009-12-02T15:18:50Z

Here are some familiar statistics. 85% of our country considers itself Christian even though 40% of Americans can’t name more than 4 commandments, only 35% make it to church every week, and 12% think that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. I find that last one hard to believe. But here’s something that really ought to catch our attention. 75% of the people in this Christian nation believe that “God helps those who help themselves” is a verse in the Bible. ¾ of this Bible-reading, church-going nation attribute to the Bible words that came from Benjamin Franklin.

Advent Invitation.

2009-11-19T15:56:04Z

At the coming of Jesus, Mary burst into a joyful song because all of her hopes for peace and love had come true. This Advent season, as we await the coming of Jesus Christ, we will join in Mary’s song because we share her hope for peace and love among all peoples. We will listen to four different voices being intentional to include both genders and some of the diversity of this world that God has saved through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Justification

2009-10-25T10:39:35Z

I’m sure we can all think of a number of times in life when we have felt justified. Just think of an argument or disagreement or friendly wager with a spouse or friend or co-worker. Think of a time when one of you was going to be right and the other wrong; one of those heated conversations that ends in, “Well, we’ll see won’t we.” We all love to say, “I told you so.” We feel so proud. We feel so right. We feel so justified. We also know what it’s like to have to justify our actions. Every golf season I need to justify to Julie why I need to buy more golf balls even though I’ve been telling her how well I played. In other words, I need to prove to her why it’s right for me to do so.

Faith.

2009-10-19T14:27:48Z

What is it? We often hear that it is somehow tied to our salvation. We have been "saved by grace through faith."

Atonement.

2009-10-07T13:32:26Z

Ransom. Substitution. Satisfaction. Words that we can define that describe Jesus' death on the cross. They just don't do much for our spirit. Expiation. Propitiation. Words that not many of us can define that do the same thing. Still nothing for our spirit. What words can we use to understand the atonement and draw us closer to God?

Wrath.

2009-09-24T20:19:32Z

Wrath is a rather ominous word. I wasn't sure what ominous meant actually, so I looked it up. Here are some synonyms: threatening, menacing, fateful. Those words definitely seem to capture some feelings we have about wrath. We think of Sodom and Gomorrah or the plagues of Egypt. No doubt thinking of wrath leads us to think about God. God seems threatening and menacing too.

Righteousness.

2009-09-23T14:21:38Z

To be righteous is to be committed to what is right. God is righteous. We can all agree on that. The question is, what is it that God is committed to? It makes a difference.

Gospel.

2009-09-09T16:10:37Z

Gospel means good news. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote gospels (other people did too, but they aren't in the Bible). Some of the things they wrote don't sound very good. What's up?

Jesus the Baptist

2009-08-24T14:01:14Z

Baptism is an important ritual in the Christian church. It represents a lot of the blessings and benefits that God promises. We know that Jesus was baptized. We know that Jesus instructed his disciples to baptize. But, did Jesus ever baptize anyone? If not, why not?

Immeasurable Riches of gRace

2009-07-13T16:16:22Z

You'll notice the odd spelling of the title of this sermon. I received a number of comments pointing out the "typo." It's not, by the way. The question that prompted Sunday's sermon was, "Why do we talk about race so much?" More than once in the Bible you'll find that God's grace is closely tied to race.

Give Me Slavery or Give Me Death.

2009-07-06T15:52:42Z

During the 4th of July weekend, we celebrate our independence, our freedom. The TV and radio take the time to listen again to the voices of Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and others who pushed this country toward liberty. Freedom is one of those things that Americans hold dear. But, is there a difference between American freedom and Christian freedom? What would Jesus and Paul insert into the American conversation about liberty?

Faithful Growth

2009-06-29T13:45:31Z

Church growth seems to be all the rage these days. I guess it's always been a big deal, but it's just taken on different forms. There were new church starts to keep up with population growth, foreign missions, the mega-church movement. All of these have been good. And, now we have church planting again; not to keep up with population growth, but to reach the disenchanted. Also good. In the RCA it's called Church Multiplication and it's everywhere. In fact, it gets so much air time that established churches are left to wonder if the only churches considered successful are those that are growing and multiplying.

He Is Risen!!

2009-04-13T15:12:22Z

This Sunday, Easter Sunday, is about Jesus being raised. It's on this Easter Sunday that we celebrate the beginning of the new life that we found in Jesus Christ. Our goal today, is to stand with the women at the opening of the empty tomb to see if we can relate to their feelings of amazement and terror.

Advocating Grace - 4/5/09

2009-04-10T15:44:01Z

In this church last week, we talked about advocating for moral leaders, for people who would be humble enough to serve people rather than their own prestige. This week we'll be considering what it means to advocate for more faithful systems, whether they be immigration or any other type. In fact, this is one way to look at Jesus' triumphal entry.