There’s a wonderful sentence that begins Hebrews chapter 11: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It is the witness of both the Hebrew and Christian faiths that the unseen world – God and all that God implies in the life of this seen world – is completely and wholly a reality, though unseen. Our faith is the inner and outer assurance and conviction that this is so, even though others may doubt it (and so may we from time to time). In order to think or talk about our faith we… Continue reading →

This past Wednesday, in addition to being Valentine’s Day, was Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. I remind you, almost annually, that Lent is the time we prepare for Easter by reflecting on how we’re doing spiritually. It is more than that, however, since it centres on the Gospel stories of the journey Jesus took to Easter. It’s important to remember that one of the greatest practical and, if you will, marketing difficulties for the earliest Christians had to do with the fact that the founder of their movement had been rejected by the powerful among his people,… Continue reading →

The bulletin cover reminds us that the last Sunday of Epiphany points us toward Lent. It is traditionally called Transfiguration Sunday, and the Lectionary Gospel deals with that story that reveals, briefly, Jesus’ glory. This Last Sunday of Epiphany also affords us another opportunity to look at how the baby of Bethlehem we so recently welcomed is a revelation (an epiphany) of God’s nature to us in his teachings. It is important to understand that these teachings are not only so we know information about Jesus and his life, but also how discipleship to Jesus is shaped, not only in… Continue reading →

All week long I have been thinking about our annual meeting and the conversations we had. I appreciated the spirit and tone of it all. Since, we’ve been together a long time now as pastor and people, it’s good to reflect on things that have been accomplished over the past decade and a half. It has been a work of love on the part of both Maxine and myself to offer leadership to what is very much a church of leaders with good ideas and stamina. Over the years we’ve been as creative as any ABC church in Wisconsin (and,… Continue reading →