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Leaning into Liminality
On 8 May 2023 I completed my term as President of the Synod of Albany, and as part of that, I presented the annual State of Religion report. While such a thing generally doesn’t sound that interesting, the response from it has been positive, so I thought I would share it. Grace to you and…
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The Beauty of Distraction
“Come on, focus, let’s keep moving” I want to say as we’ve stopped for the tenth time on the short walk to school. My kindergartner is so easily distracted and his focus is all over the place. To be honest, he comes by it honestly and gets it from his father (that’s me. I’m the…
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Trampling Down Death By Death: An Easter Reflection
I’ve never known stories and not known this story. And so I don’t know what it would feel like to hear this story without knowing what would happen in the story. Even entirely secular people have heard the summary of the story and so nothing about this is surprising. But I wonder what this might…
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On the Weekly Celebration of the Eucharist
Proclamation of the Gospel through preaching is incomplete without the celebration of the Holy Supper. It is like a tune that doesn’t resolve. It feels unfinished, incomplete. When I was growing up, we celebrated the Holy Supper (Lord’s Supper, Communion, Eucharist) once a quarter. That was the minimum required in the church order and I…
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To Be Leaven For the Future
He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’ Matthew 13:33, NRSV The restoration of the church will surely come from a sort of new monasticism which has in common with the old only the…
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My Ecumenical Manifesto and a Plea to the Reformed Church in America
‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory…
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Look at the Child
Luke 2:22-40 I grew up in Michigan’s Bible Belt. Not quite the same as the bible belt that runs through the south, but the streets rolled up on Sundays because all the businesses were closed kind. My own religious history is somewhat unique, and confusing for those who haven’t lived that kind of experience. Anyway,…
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Restoration Amidst the Ruins
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 I am fascinated by ruins. I think it started where I grew up. I grew up in a small town that used to be a fairly sizeable community, but as the nearby city continued to grow and expand, and as more people started working there, the community began to decline, as well.…
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The Great Multitude of the Saints
Revelation 7:9-17 All Saints’ Day is a day I feel. It’s a day I feel in my bones, in the deepest recesses of my being. It’s also a day that I have a hard time talking about. And I think it’s because there’s something ineffable about it, something which can best be experienced, best be…
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Life from the Lifeless
Exodus 17:1-7 “Is the LORD among us or not?” This, I think, speaks to the heart of the matter, not just for this particular story, but the grand story as well. This is what was at the root of their worry when they found themselves between an army and a sea, this was at the…
Matthew van Maastricht
Writer | Speaker | Pastor
Matthew van Maastricht 