Letter from the Pastor

As we are all aware a right objective can never be reached by the use of wrong means. Most of us are too young to remember the days of World War I; but we have read about it in our history books, and we remember what it was called. It was “the war to end all wars;” it was “the war that would make the world safe for democracy”. That wars over 90 years ago; and in the meantime we have had another world war, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and other wars including now the war against terrorism. […]

“In the cities the wounded and dying cry out, but God ignores their prayers.” This cry of Job must be one of the most poignant statements in the Scriptures. Although the scholars keep telling us this is an anguished cry for help from a man in intense pain, it sounds more like a cry of despair. After all, this is the same Job who also cried: “I give up, I am tired of living. Leave me alone. My life makes no sense.” But the scholars must be right: knowing Job, basically, the man of faith, his outburst must have been […]

One of the most fascinating things about the New Testament is the amazing faith that Jesus had in all sorts of people. Follow Jesus through the years of His ministry, and you will see that same attitude reflected toward all sorts of people – a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, a dishonest tax collector named Zacchaeus, and a Samaritan woman who had failed in marriage five times. And one of the last things He did, just before He died, was express His confidence in a condemned felon, who was dying on the cross right next […]

Temptation is often deceptively subtle. There is a diabolical thing about evil. It can seem so reasonable, so necessary, even so beautiful. Some years ago a popular song had a line in it which said, “It can’t be wrong when it seems so right.” Well, I hate to disappoint some people; but wrong always has a way of appearing right to those who want to do it. Evil does not present itself in the form of some grotesque creature with horns, hooves, and a pitchfork. Temptation will come to us often in forms that are very subtle. Dishonesty will disguise […]

It is important that we become sensitive to God’s presence/alert to the ways He reveals Himself in the daily occurrence of life. Often the problem is that we simply don’t know what to look for, or we don’t take the time in our hurried lives to be aware of our Father’s presence. It’s like going out to a forest in the dead of winter. All we can see are bare limbs of trees, a blanket of snow, withered flowers. There doesn’t seem to be much life around. Yet all the life of a forest in the fullness of summer is […]