Category: Uncategorized
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Why are you still a follower of Jesus?
Recently, a friend and colleague posed this question on social media. It’s a great question and one that isn’t asked enough. Particularly with all the misuses and abuses of Jesus and Christianity for causes which are harmful, hateful, and opposed to the very message of the Gospel. These are not new misuses and abuses, they…
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On the Death of a Church
It was the first time that I had walked into the doors and sat near the back for the duration of the worship service. Being a pastor, I am typically at the front. I usually have tasks to do, responsibilities to which to attend. But today was different. I was not there as their pastor,…
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Number Worship and Strategic Salvation
“The church is dying!” In my corner of the the last remnants of Christendom, I hear this or something similar regularly. There is concern because our denomination, much like most North American mainline denominations, has a numerically declining trend. There is a fear that because the church is losing the privileged position that it has…
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Autumn
As I walk through Humboldt Park in my neighborhood in Milwaukee, I make the corner around the lagoon and before me is a tree which is ablaze but is not consumed. I have an impulse to remove my shoes. After all, I am standing on holy ground. Not because this sight makes it holy, but…
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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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Waiting for the Mail Carrier
There is nothing like the excitement of waiting for a package to arrive in the mail. Internet tracking allows me to see exactly when it is going to arrive, and it is a day which brings eager anticipation. The items in the package are not that exciting, simply utilitarian items. I know what they are,…
Matthew van Maastricht 