I’m a preacher.  Most Sunday mornings you will find me standing in Bethel’s pulpit, sharing with the people who’ve come about the things I’ve seen in the day’s Bible passage, and what it means for our daily lives.  Knowing it to be an important part of my calling, I put quite a bit of time, energy…

Here’s a challenge:  try to describe the Mona Lisa.  If you’re like me, you’ll say something like: it’s a little painting in the Louvre, of a young lady with an enigmatic smile, and in the background there are scenes of the Italian countryside. Yup.  Pretty unsatisfactory.  Factually accurate, but without passion and bereft of soul.…

There’s no accounting for taste. Take pizza, for example.  Myself, I’m a traditionalist.  Pepperoni, mushroom, and jalapenos (ok, maybe the jalapenos are a little unorthodox). Pizza perfection! But please, don’t corrupt my pizza with the horror of olives. My wife Joanne, on the other hand, for some strange reason, likes olives on her pizza.  Despite…

What follows is a “Faith Matters” column I wrote for the Flamborough Review.   Because of necessary submission deadlines, I am writing this column a few days before the federal election.  So, reading this you know who is the Member of Parliament for our riding.  You know who is the Prime Minister.  You know if…

A few years ago I was in South Africa.  One of the Reformed denominations invited the Christian Reformed Church to send a fraternal delegate to their Synod, and I was the one that went. My white hosts were very open about their lives, ministries, joys and frustrations.  One man told me that his family had…

A couple of months ago, my son and his family moved to a city in another part of the province. He got a great new job, found a beautiful home to rent, and already was making new contacts and connections. Life can hardly get any better! Some parts of the new house needed to be…

“It must be nice to have a job that only makes you work one hour per week!” If I had a dollar for every time someone said that to me, my wife and I would be enjoying a really nice vacation somewhere warm this winter. I know that people say that to us ministers in…

A few weeks ago I preached a sermon about the challenge of being a complete follower of God. We are to use our heads, I said, and understand the truth that has been revealed to us. We are to use our hearts, I went on, and accept this good news while incorporating it into the…

Today the seniors of Bethel Church (and me by virtue of being the pastor) were treated to a South African luncheon feast, put together by some members who came to Canada from that country. After the meal another of the seniors who just returned from a guided tour of South Africa showed slides of his…

Whenever people commit to a common cause, structures and procedures must be agreed upon. Being a pastor and close follower of many things ecclesiastical, I’m quite familiar with this reality as it exists within a particular denomination, the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). The CRC has a “Church Order” that defines its understanding of ordained ministries,…