Category: Spirituality
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Striving With God
It has been some time since we have received any amount of actual rainfall, and when added to the unseasonably hot temperatures, this creates a situation in which plants struggle to survive and farmers lose significant portions of their crops. The health department has been recommending that people stay inside air conditioning and not exert…
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How the Teacher Becomes the Student
The highest assembly of my denomination, the General Synod, meets annually in June. There are delegates which are elders and ministers, and there are corresponding delegates which can speak but not vote. Corresponding delegates are often people with particular expertise or particular experiences that make them valuable additions to General Synod and the denomination values…
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Connection with God in the Midst of Concrete and Steel
I often hear people talk about how they feel close to God while in nature: a forest, meadow, lake, ocean. It is in these areas that many people can often discern the fingerprints and footprints of God. I can definitely relate to this, however, I have also learned to be able to encounter God in…
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On Being Dried Up
Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you. do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call. For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is…
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Our Greatest Need? Hope
Because of the nature of my ministry, and the fact that nearly all of our funding comes from outside sources, I find myself in contact with people from other churches in many different places and many different contexts. There is a question that is asked by almost everyone is some variant of “what is the…
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Get up (or sit down) and eat!
As I am sure is the case with many clergy-type folks, Sunday mornings are incredibly draining for me. When I deliver a sermon, I am not just giving a lecture, or a talk. I am pouring my whole being, my whole spirit, my whole emotional self, often times my whole being into the preaching moment. …
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“Being” as witness to the resurrection
I’ve been meditating and thinking about John’s account of the resurrection, which is the appointed Gospel text for Easter Sunday (John 20:1-18). I find John’s account fascinating, particularly because at first, rather than angels proclaiming that Jesus is not there but is risen, we have an empty tomb, with all of the thoughts, fears, and…
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The Rev. Lawn Mower
When I was a child, I hated mowing the lawn. I had to add gasoline to the greasy engine, I had to pull start the mower, and pull again, and again. Prime it, pull, pull, pull, finally it would start. I would spend half a day mowing our lawn. It was hot, grass made my…
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The Spirituality of Public Transportation
There are many reason why I like public transportation, and why my wife and I refuse to buy another car, making me rely heavily on public transit to get around. Many of these reasons are common ones: it helps the environment, it is more cost-effective than the costs associated with an additional vehicle, and it…
Matthew van Maastricht 