As we come to celebrate the Supper during the season of Advent, it is necessary to remind you of the temptations that come with “penitential” seasons like Advent and Lent. This is a meal closely associated with the death of our Savior. The wine is the blood, and the bread is the body of the …
A Surprise Present
Once there was a woman who lived for the holidays. She absolutely loved the time of year, and the decorations, and the role she had in shopping, and pretty much everything else about Christmas. The only thing that was an irritant to her was the fact that the others in her extended family did not …
Making the Physical Spiritual
The God we worship is the God of all mercy. Scripture tells us repeatedly that His mercies crown all that He does, and one aspect of this mercy is that He gives “food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Ps. 136:25). One central aspect of His great mercy is His provision of …
Thanksgiving 2008
Comes now another Thanksgiving, and I have to say that I can’t get enough of them. This is a glorious harvest home music festival, one that strikes all the right notes. One of the things I have noticed over the years is that the so-called sons of Issachar (1 Chron. 12:32) tend to be on …
Toddlers on Your Lap
Many years ago we made the decision to disband our children’s church and nursery, and go to a system of parents training their little ones to worship with us. We have cry room, and so on, but the intent is to have our children grow up into the worship of God. We have had many …
Stones in the Wilderness
When the Lord was tempted in the wilderness, one of the points of temptation was bread. The tempter said that if He was who He claimed to be, He ought to prove it by turning stones into bread (Matt. 4:3). Jesus responded by saying if He turned the stones into bread, that would not be …
New Songs, Both New and Old
This exhortation concerns something we do in every worship service, and consequently it is possible for the whole thing to start becoming “old hat.” I am referring to the practice of psalm singing, and want to urge you to not do it in a way that we can simply check off our list. “Sang my …
Bread for Strength, Wine for Joy
In Psalm 104: 14-15, we are told that God feeds the world. As part of this, the psalmist mentions wine and bread as part of God’s great gift. He tells us that bread is given to strengthen the heart of man, and that wine is given to gladden the heart of man. As we gather …
No Tight Little Circles
In the colonial era, ministers used to preach what were called artillery sermons—messages leading up to elections in order to teach and inform the saints on their duties in the civil realm. The message today is an artillery sermon to prepare you for the election, and for what comes after, regardless of what that is. …
The Liquid Oath and Edible Vow
Our fathers the Jews were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They, like us, were inaugurated into the body of God’s people. And they also had spiritual food and spiritual drink in the wilderness. The drink came from the rock that accompanied them, the rock that was Christ. They had manna, …