Category: Spirituality
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When you can’t find the words
My calling is centered around language, as language is the way to communicate, to express. In my pastoral role, it is my charge to speak to the community and for the community — to express the experiences and life of the community and to help us all find meaning in our individual and shared experiences.…
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When God sits at your bedside
I am a pastor. I spend time with people, not only preaching and teaching, but also checking in on them, visiting them in the hospital, praying with them and talking with them before operations about which anxieties are high. But in March, the day after Ash Wednesday, the tables were turned. I spent almost three…
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In the Bleak Midwinter
Sitting at my window, I cannot make out what exists outside. The view is obstructed by the coat of ice on the interior of the century old windows in my century old flat. It is winter, I am not complaining. I am from Michigan and live in Wisconsin, long and cold winters are simply part…
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Deep seated pieties
As I closed my eyes, I felt moved to a different time, and a different space. In becoming familiar with our denomination’s new hymnal, Lift Up Your Hearts, there was a hymn sing at the annual gathering of delegated Ministers of Word and Sacrament and Elders from the entire denomination from around the United States and Canada.…
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Curiosity on a Sunny Saturday Morning
The sun is warm and the birds are chirping. It is finally a spring-like day during this unseasonably cold spring. The front window is open and I hear a group of boys talking. The city is doing utility work on our street and there is a square of concrete which is removed surrounded by sawhorse…
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Seeing with New Eyes
I wonder what Moses saw. After wandering with a rag tag group of refugees recently liberated from slavery, Moses stood atop a mountain and was given a view of the Promised Land, the land that God was giving to this people, the land which he spent so long looking for. But it was also a…
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A Brush With Grace
I was almost in tears. “It’s just a jelly roll” my beloved attempted to console me. “It’s not about the jelly roll,” I responded. We sat quiet for a few minutes as we drove over the high point of the bridge crossing the port. The bridge is the best place to get a view of…
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Looking Back and Looking Forward
Today is January 1st, New Year’s Day. The first day of 2013. My travels for the holidays are over, and I have been able to settle back into my home and to some sense of normalcy (if such a thing can exist for pastors). Although the end-of-year retrospectives are typically over, I am doing so…
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“‘…for I am the LORD who heals you.’”
I have a parishioner, I will call him Larry. Larry has been battling cancer for some time, and has seemed to be losing the battle. It has metastasized in different places, and just a few short weeks ago, he did not expect to be here by Christmas. The pain was unbearable even with pain medicine,…
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When there is nothing to say
There is something holy about silence, something which I love and hate. I love silence because I can better see myself, and listen to God. I hate silence because I can better see myself and listen to God. When there is silence I cannot necessarily control or predict what is going to happen, what is…
Matthew van Maastricht 