Tag: Hope
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On the (Protestant) Recovery of the Rite of Confession
I grew up as a Dutch Reformed protestant, and as such, never participated in an ecclesiastical rite of confession. My parents were also raised Dutch Reformed protestants, and so they didn’t either. And so on back generations upon generations. However, I wonder if we are missing something central in dropping the tradition of confession, not…
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On Christian Healing and Curing and Christian Rites
This Sunday, one of my churches will be having a healing service as part of our Sunday liturgy. This has become our practice for the third Sunday of the month, and it has become a meaningful practice. Growing up, “healing services” were things that charismatics did when they pushed people over and other strange things…
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Letters to My Son: If Only I Could Bubble Wrap the World
My dear boy, I still remember when you were first born and I would give you a bath in the little sink bathtub that we had. And I would wash your hair, and I’d always panic when my fingers would accidentally touch your soft spot. If ever I would feel it, I would stop, look…
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Letters to My Son on Life and Faith: Introduction
When we were still anticipating my son, I began writing letters to him. I wrote about the progress we were making on his nursery, how excited we were for his arrival, the hopes that we had with him. And then during his first year, I wrote him a letter once a month. My plan was…
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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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Laughable Hope
Genesis 18:1-15; Romans 5:1-8 Finished. This is what Abraham’s line was to be. Ended. Cut off. Sarah couldn’t have children, and their best hope was Ishmael, the child of Abraham and Sarah’s servant. But God says, “No, Sarah will bear a child,” and Abraham says, “Yeah, sure, bless Ishmael.” And so here we have three…
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The Light that Follows the Darkness: A Funeral Meditation
“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear,” writes C.S. Lewis. The Cambridge Professor and writer lost his wife to cancer after only four years of marriage. His reflections written during that time were later published in a book titled, A Grief Observed. Lewis continues, “I am not afraid, but the sensation…
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The tension of the green season
Sunday begins the long season after Pentecost with the green liturgical color. As a young child, I remember that we called it “the growing season.” Which fits both with the color and with the orientation. We call this season “ordinary time,” that is, there is nothing special. No Christmas, no Easter, no Pentecost. No special…
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Not Always Calm and Bright
A sermon originally delivered to Calvary Community (Reformed) Church in New Berlin, Wisconsin. Text: Matthew 2:1-23 | Oremus Bible Browser The Magi have come and gone, it has been an unremarkable two years for the young child, but now, things are going to become challenging once again. It was a messy entry into the world…
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Finding Hope Amidst Tragedy
A sermon originally delivered to Calvary Community (Reformed) Church in New Berlin, Wisconsin. Text: Mark 13:1-26. How do we make sense out of tragedy? It seems that we have to deal with this with increasing frequency. If not a bombing, then a school shooting, if not a school shooting, then a massive natural disaster, and…
Matthew van Maastricht 