Category: Uncategorized

The 20^th century is over. On the face of it, this seems pretty obvious. Very few are unaware of this fact. But do we really think and act as if it is?

In 1844, James Russell Lowell wrote a poem entitled, “The Present Crisis,” itself an argument against slavery. It later inspired the hymn, “Once to Every Man and Nation.” The poem reads as follows:

New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth;
Lo, before us gleam her campfires? We ourselves must Pilgrims be,
Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea,
Nor attempt the Future’s portal with the Past’s blood-rusted key.

In case you haven’t noticed (though I’m sure you have!), I frequently object to the mainline church’s embrace of the Social Gospel, a movement that began in the mid to late 19^th century but hit its stride in the early 20^th. Its effects are with us still.

Continue reading “Our Present Crisis”

Years ago, I went to the local hospital to visit a church member who had been admitted into the ICU (intensive care unit). As per protocol, I went into the waiting room and dialed the nurses’ station to be admitted. The person on the other end asked me what my relationship was to the patient. I said I was his pastor.

After I hung up, someone in the waiting room immediately sought me out. “I’ve always wondered,” she said, “what does the word ‘pastor’ mean?” The answer, of course, is “shepherd.”

The pastor is the shepherd of the flock. Yes, I know, it sounds a bit clichéd, if not cornball, but it has real import. The shepherd is called not only to feed the sheep, but to protect them.

Continue reading “Fairy Tales”

In the days leading up to Christmas, our daily newspaper published an article by a local pastor entitled, Uncomfortable Truths in This Season of Light. As it turns out, the title gave the plot away.

The subject was the nationally reported story of a Roman Catholic church in Dedham, MA that’s outdoor creche featured baby Jesus inside a cage, with the surrounding wise men barred from reaching him because of a wall. The sign above the creche read, “Peace on Earth?” Here the obvious reference is to the current hot-button issue of immigration on our southern border.

In explaining the priest’s decision to erect the controversial creche, the author quotes him as saying that he was “just trying to start a conversation.” In the same vein, the author herself argues that regardless of whether one agrees with using the creche to raise the issues or not, the “bigger question” is “how do we talk about this.”

And yet, ironically, her article, along with its reproving title, does more to shut down conversation than start one. What one finds instead is soft-pedaled contempt for those who see things differently than she.

Continue reading “As I Was Saying…”

Though not commonly known, we Christians currently are in the liturgical season of Advent, not Christmas. Christmas always starts on December 25^th and lasts…for 12 days.

Even less well known is that Advent, historically, is a season of repentance! In fact, it’s been referred to as a “mini-Lent,” a time for self-reflection and introspection, the purpose of which is to PREPARE ourselves for the  arrival of the Christ child.

But the 3^rd of the 4 Sundays in Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday. Its theme is joy. It’s supposed to be a break from our preparations so that we might consider why we’re preparing in the first place. And that is the joy of Christmas morn.

Continue reading “Leinbach Lines – 1987”

In his 1989 book, The Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age, Canadian author Modris Eksteins characterizes the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 as the metaphorical last stand of the West, perhaps even its apotheosis. What was to follow unleashed sweeping changes that would define the 20^th century.

The Great War had broken out in August of 1914 and by December a wholly new and monstrous form of warfare had developed along the entirety of the Western Front. As the first truly modern war, and thus the first to employ advanced technology (most especially machine guns and heavy artillery), the loss of life on both sides was unprecedented. It resulted not in quick advances, as both sides had reason to expect, but a long, grisly standoff.

Reportedly, at certain points along the front, enemy combatants were as close as 70 feet away, holed up for days and months in makeshift trenches. Facing heavy losses, fatigue, insufficient supplies, rats, and the unusually heavy and sustained rains of fall and early winter, the soldiers’ constant companion was death and mud.

Continue reading “End of an Era”

Probably the worst accusation my father could level at anyone was to be deemed a “phony.” And this from someone who almost always kept his criticisms to himself.

“Just make sure you’re alright,” he would repeatedly caution his four children, an obvious appeal to modesty and circumspection.

Foremost, he was a humble man. My mother frequently would urge him to take more credit for his achievements, which were many. She chalked up his reticence to a case of low self-esteem, though I personally never saw it that way. For me, he was just genuinely humble. Continue reading “Being Better than Others”

Is human nature fixed or malleable? Does life have an underlying order or is it continually in flux? Is the past relevant or is the present and future all we have? Is morality a constant or subject to change? What about truth? And virtue?

All these questions could be boiled down to one simple question: Is the essence of life one of being or becoming?

Antiquity, into which I would place the biblical witness, argues that the secret to human flourishing requires that life align itself with the objective realities of God and/or nature. This means adjusting our lives to the objective, unchanging standards of ‘the good, the true, and the beautiful,’ gleaned perhaps especially through the received wisdom of the past. Continue reading “It’s a Mixed-Up, Muddled-Up, Shook-Up World”

Years ago, while serving my first church and with a Sunday off, my wife and I decided to worship someplace “completely different.” So we went to a Greek Orthodox church in Worcester, MA.

What I failed to consider at the time was that the entire service would be conducted in Greek. It was, in the literal sense, “all Greek to me.” I got nothing out of it.

A couple of months back, however, a family member’s mother died. She was Greek Orthodox, so the service was held in that same Worcester church.

At first I was concerned that I might not be able to find meaning in the service (I still don’t speak Greek). What I discovered instead was that the whole experience was uplifting and in ways I hadn’t expected. Continue reading “Trying the Same Thing Over and Over Again”

In a new, widely reported nationwide poll, a startling 80% of Americans say “political correctness is a problem in our country.” Objections to political correctness, somewhat surprisingly – or not – are even stronger among racial minorities. High-income college graduates, especially those with advanced degrees, are the Americans most likely to think political correctness is not a problem.

Perhaps this makes sense in a society where over the last 60 years we’ve been taught that self-expression is the key not only to personal happiness but the welfare of our nation and world.

Post-WWII fears of a soul-sapping cultural conformity, as well as the even darker specter of totalitarianism, led to a widespread movement away from what was deemed uniformity of thought. Besides, the intrinsic value of the individual, or so it was argued, was as American as apple pie. Continue reading “Old Fogey Screed?”

[This sermon was originally delivered years ago but updated in light of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA.]

“For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:24-25)

A couple of years ago, I ran into a woman in a local coffee shop right after yet another mass shooting had resulted in the tragic loss of several innocent lives. She commiserated with me, offering that having to preach about such things must be a nearly impossible task. And yet, as awful a task as it is, that event and others like it are part and parcel not only of the world in which we live but the gospel’s relevance and significance to everyday life.

This past Saturday our nation once again was visited with yet more sickening, malevolent violence. Continue reading “The Tragic and the Gospel”