Folks, it's been a week. Our church family has been through the wringer these past few days. We've mourned the passing of one of our own; two members have had surgery, one major; others have had procedures or are now awaiting tests in the coming weeks. We've all run the full gamut of emotions this week, going from anxiety to relief to grief to joy to anticipation to back again. Through it all, we've pulled together and taken care of our own, and I couldn't be prouder of you all for it. And through everything, even the darkest moments of a funeral, God has been a good God. Some people object to that in times like this. "If God were truly good," they'd say, "why did she die? Why did they have

Today's blog was delayed a bit because, well, life happens. Some things in life we can prepare for; others, not so much. And then there are those events that, no matter how much you prepare, you simply can't be ready for. Other things get pushed to the back burner, delayed, while you deal with the new hand life has (temporarily) dealt you. That sort of postponement is one thing, but many people in my generation (and those younger than mine) experience other significant delays. My group is the one who defined "failure to launch." We left home for college and ended up right back where we started. We couldn't find jobs, we didn't get married, and so the empty nesters suddenly found themselves w

It's one of the greatest lines in science fiction: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further." Few of us are as evil as Darth Vader, but we've all had times we thought it was time to alter the deal and renegotiate. Things just didn't go the way we thought they should have, and so we decided to say, "Hang on a minute. If this is how this will really work, we need to change a few things." It could happen on the job, in a friendship, in a relationship, or even in a church. In some ways, I think that's how some people view the change between the testaments. God made a covenant with His people through Moses, the agreement went south, and the terms changed. The new covenant came t

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Amen! Alleluia! So goes the traditional Easter greeting. It's been used for years upon years across multiple denominations, and for good reason. In just a few short words, it captures come of the main messages of the Resurrection and emphasizes one in particular: hope. Still, it's easy to miss the message of hope in the acclamation, so let's take a closer look at it. "Christ is risen!" means, well, Christ is rise. He's alive. The grave could not hold him; death was defeated, sin atoned for, eternal life opened to all who would believe. His death didn't get the last word; love, holy and sacrificial, got the last word. It's a word of victory, forgiveness, l

There is a sort of power in a name. It affects us differently when people say our names in different tones of voice, and the names they choose to call us reflects who they think we are. I, for instance, answer to "Chris" from most people, "Brother Chris" from my congregation, "Pastor Chris" from others in familiar church circles, "Reverend Peters" in very formal settings, "Christopher" from my family, and "Christopher William!" from Mom when I'm in trouble. It matters, then, that we have named one of the darkest days in human history Good Friday. In a way, it's unthinkable we would ever call it that. The Son of God, the Savior of the world was subjected to sham trials, miscarriages of justic

I realize it's Wednesday today and Holy Thursday isn't actually until tomorrow, but since I don't blog tomorrow, I needed to do this today. The next major day in Holy Week is Holy Thursday, better known in some faith traditions as Maundy Thursday. "Maundy" has come to refer to footwashing, especially washing the feet of the poor, so the day is named for Jesus' act in the Upper Room the night of his betrayal. Now, don't get me wrong: I have nothing against a footwashing service, and I've participated in a few myself. But even that humble act on the part of our Lord pales, in my opinion, compared to what else happened that night. Jesus didn't just wash his disciples' feet in the Upper Room; he

Of all the "hip" phrases and acronyms to hit the church scene in my lifetime, "WWJD?" is arguably the biggest. "What Would Jesus Do?" has become a guiding principle to an untold number of people, and it's not a bad one. But, as one of my favorite sayings goes, "When someone asks you, 'What would Jesus do?' remind them that getting angry and flipping tables is a viable option." After Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he went to the temple and wreaked havoc with what he found. In divine fury, he threw over the tables of the vendors and moneychangers, then made a whip and drove them from the temple (Matt. 21:12-13 and parallel passages). Most gospels put the story right before his arrest

There are many things in life that taste good but just aren't the real thing, things like pineapple and watermelon candy. Then there are things that try to be the real thing but just aren't (and usually taste terrible), such as anything involving the word "tofu." And then there's a third category of things which do a decent job at pretending to be something they're not that I simply just don't care for, and it's in this group I place orange candy and grape-flavored anything. Every Christmas my parents give my sister and me rolls of Lifesavers, and I give every orange one to Mom I can (I've been forced to eat them myself this year, and I don't love it). It's not that I have a refined, discern

April showers bring May flowers, and what do May flowers bring? Pilgrims, of course! I know, it's a bad joke and a tired pun, but it's still funny (or at least it is to me; then again, I have a notoriously warped sense of humor). The Pilgrims probably fit better in a blog in November, but I'm going to talk about them today instead. Officially known as the Scrooby Pilgrims, a group of Christians (Puritans, to be exact) who disagreed with the Church of England left Scrooby, a village in Nottingham, to worship in Holland (now the Netherlands). After deciding their children were being raised in the Dutch way and facing more religious persecution of sorts, they left Holland for the New World. Ame