Author: Matthew van Maastricht
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Recovering Evangelism
Let me begin with a confession: the word “evangelism” makes me cringe. It’s not that I don’t like talking about God, I certainly love doing that. It is just that I associate “evangelism” with programs: Evangelism Explosion, The Way of the Master, or other simplistic techniques: the Roman Road, the EvangeCube. I often find that…
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Writing Letters
One of my favorite pastoral tasks is writing letters. I write a lot of letters. I write letters to individual donors, I write letters to churches thanking them for donations. I write letters informing people of special needs that we have. I like writing letters. I don’t send e-mails, and I don’t even use the…
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Sitting In My Office
Every day when I come to church, I walk in the main door, and I walk in the back of the sanctuary. From there I walk all the way to the front of the sanctuary to where my office is, and I sit down and start working. At first it feels kind of strange to…
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Why I’m Avoiding Christmas Music During Advent
This is the time of year when people begin talking about getting into the “Christmas Spirit”. I must confess, I’m not in the Christmas spirit, but I think that it is okay, because now is not the time to be in the Christmas spirit, this is the time to be in the Advent spirit. In…
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Advent in a Wintry Eschatological Perspective
As a child, my family did not fully celebrate Advent. We lit Advent candles at church, but we still put up Christmas decorations and sung Christmas songs during Advent (which is not exactly proper observance). As an adult, I have begun celebrating Advent, and I have found it to be very meaningful. Advent is a…