With current events, I find myself drawn to re-read Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity. I see a lot of stupidity on both sides of the political aisle, and I also see that it is infecting the church. We, who should be seekers of truth, are too easily drawn into sides and decide to allow the mob …
Category Archives: Pastor’s Blog
To Resolve or Not to Resolve
January 2, 2026 Greetings, New Year’s is an interesting time. Commonly, people reevaluate their lives and settle on changes to make. These are personal promises and declarations which we call resolutions. These are often something like, “In the New Year, I resolve to…” Usually, these take two forms: positive and negative. Positive resolutions are …
Questions Should Be Welcomed
Recently, Kirk Cameron released a podcast episode in which he discussed some questions about Hell with his son. He is wrestling, in his studies, with the traditional view known as eternal conscious torment and another view known as conditional immortality (also known as annihilationism). Before going into some points, let me explain these two: Eternal …
No such thing as a pocket Jesus
In Exodus 20, God was with Israel. The people gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai. The Lord appeared to them in a thick cloud with lightning, thunder, and fire. He spoke with Moses in their hearing. This frightened the people so bad they told Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but …
Schadenfreude no more
In English, when we need a new word, we may coin something new or borrow from another language. For example, we borrowed “cookie” from Dutch. If you hate math, you can thank Arabic for the word “algebra.” In German, the tendency is to take a descriptive phrase and make it into a single word. We …
Crossing the Context Bridge
There is an old saying, “A text without context is a pretext.” R. Scott Clark, writing in an article for Heideblog, says, “One way to be sure to handle the text of Scripture well and accurately is to place it in its original context. Failure to read Scripture against its original background will have unhappy …
Interpreting Graciously
This morning, I read an interesting post from a friend about Nehemiah and the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall. However, what was most interesting was that after posting the initial message, he felt compelled to add a disclaimer stating that it was not about immigration or any current news topic. He was meditating on a biblical …
April 2025 Newsletter
April 1, 2025 Greetings, I suppose I could start with a joke since today is April Fool’s Day. Recently, I commented that I found it interesting that it’s also election day here in Wisconsin. Something about that is almost poetic. I’ve often said that I don’t preach on politics or make political statements from …
March Pastoral Letter
March 1, 2025 Greetings, I was struck by two of CS Lewis’s essays this morning: God in the Dock and Before We Can Communicate. Both touched on the issue of difficulty with language and meaning, which often plagues our relationships and activities. Communication is complex. I have a thought in my head. Certain assumptions, background …
One Problem with Preaching
Preaching can be an emotional experience. Each person hears the sermon differently. Like any form of communication, it is only effective if the speaker and hearer are in a similar frame of mind. Think for a moment how hard it is to interpret emails. We think someone is angry when they aren’t. We can see …