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  Each year, the Spiritual Life committee of the ARP Women’s Ministries board selects and recommends a Bible study and theme verse to the women of the denomination for use in their circles. The selection for the upcoming year is  focused on the ministries of Elijah and Elisha in the books of 1-2 Kings, using the helpful series from P&R Publishing,  The Gospel According to the Old Testament ;   this volume  is  Faith in the Face of Apostasy: The Gospel According to Elijah and Elisha,  by Raymond Dillard. It was more difficult than usual to select a theme verse for this study   given ,  I think ,  the action-packed chapters of historical narrative.   U ltimately  though,  1 Kings 18:21 was chosen as the theme verse , and as we read Elijah’s address to Israel, the Scripture provides a challenge to us as well.  ​ When  Elijah  was called to  minis ter  in Israel ,  the people of the Northern K...

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How did we do? One of the more lucrative fields yet to really develop from the COVID-19 pandemic will be that of retrospective specialist. Whether in epidemiology, virology, public policy, etc., the divisions we’ve cultivated over the past year and a half or so, should begin to mend to some degree as COVID case counts decline, and as we find points of agreement around the smug critique of all that our leadership and institutions handled poorly. As Americans, we give somewhat tepid receipt to instruction from experts, but the pithy barbs of different experts criticizing the decisions of the original experts, we’ll warmly give 5 hours of our day via any medium we consume. We don’t care that the critiquing expert is giving an opinion behind a desk, speaking with months of data and hindsight and zero people dependent upon his or her viewpoint, while the original expert spoke in the pressure of a moment with limited data and millions of people potentially dependent upon his or her decision....

  In 2019, as I was making plans to attend ARP General Synod in Beaver Falls, PA, I thought to myself, “Maybe this is a good year to take a break.” I had plenty to do at my own church, and besides, I felt like I’d paid my Synod-dues over the years, whether scraping together lodging as a student under care or loading up my shovel and tow straps for “Snow Synod.” As I anticipated the long bus ride to PA, I did a really good job justifying why I shouldn’t go.   But at the back of my mind was the clear mandate in our ARP Form of Government that “the minister is also referred to as a  Presbyter “ (9.5). I mean, it’s hard for us to  be  Presbyters if we don’t attend the meetings  for  Presbyters, right? I decided to bring up my hesitancy at our next Session meeting.   I presented my case to the elders:  too busy, too tired, too expensive . I acknowledged a little guilt in not attending. We talked about various details. Would they give me an easy ou...

One of the hardest lessons to learn about the Christian life is that  the Christian life is not primarily about me . This is a hard pill to swallow for ‘rugged individualists’ who think that the answer to all our own problems is to ‘pull ourselves up by our bootstraps’ and carry on. When we say the Christian life is not about  me , we are saying that   I  am not the answer to my problems at any level of the Christian life. Justification? That is an act of God’s free grace in Jesus Christ. Adoption? That is an act of God’s free grace in Jesus Christ. Sanctification? That is the work of God’s free grace in Jesus Christ. The Christian faith, life, walk, or whatever else you want to call it is about Jesus. It is looking outside of ourselves and to Him. It is focusing on Him and the work that He has done for sinners. It is believing that His merit is enough to cover even me. He is the grounds and content of the Christian faith and life. At every point I am to look to...

  I was once told by a pastor that I should pick a small rural church and settle down there. I wasn’t told this as an encouragement, but rather a criticism of my perceived lack of ability. He told me that church planting and “a big church” would be out of the question for me, and I should “settle” for something smaller and “more rural.” There was an assessment of my gifting (which is always fine) but there was also a hidden value assigned to small churches: they are a lesser call. If you don’t think this is a thing, go to a seminary and ask about the aspirations of the students. Many of them want to be church planters - of which we can’t have too many. Some want to work in an established church, which is another high calling. There are a few, if any, who say, “I want to work for a 150-year-old church that is in its last years.” No one begins seminary with the idea of moving to the middle of nowhere and “settling” for a church that needs revitalization and will have to give its past...

  What is the best Western (not the hotel chain, but the movie genre)? Some of the men in our congregation had that conversation recently. How would you answer that question? The 1939 classic Stagecoach (starring a young John Wayne in what amounted to a comeback role) would have to be near the top of that list. One of our members is fond of Lonesome Dove . Another suggested  The Searchers . A friend of mine loves Quigley Down Under , which is different than the traditional Western (for starters, it’s set in Australia!). And certainly Sergio Leone's “Spaghetti Western” trilogy of A Fistful of Dollars , For a Few Dollars More , and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly , would have to be considered. Those movies starred Clint Eastwood as “The Man with No Name.” However, if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Eastwood’s 1992 film Unforgiven . Part of Unforgiven ’s appeal is that it is very much an anti-Western. The moral absolutes of traditional Westerns are pushed aside in ...

  It used to be the case that you could trust someone’s word. It was good enough for deals to be made on a handshake with the understanding that violating that covenant meant more than just a transaction gone bad, it meant you could not longer be a valued business partner. That mattered to people. One of the great sins of our age is that people treat covenantal matters like toilet paper. Good enough for the moment, but at the end of the day it can get flushed without much care. You can just declare bankruptcy, or ignore the requirements of the contract and move on. No big deal. A way we see this play out in real life in the Church is with congregational vows. It is not uncommon for folks to Church hop like a snowshoe hare. They’ll make promises to seek the peace, prosperity, and purity of one place…but will only mean it as long as they are getting what they want out of it. As soon as some other thing comes into view there is little compunction to going somewhere else for worship ...

Have you ever studied a passage of Scripture and for the first time something really stands out to you that you had not noticed  well  before? Our Men’s Fellowship group is studying the Epistle of Jude. It  is  a somewhat odd letter to our modern ears  but  it’s so  powerful.  As we have  been  studying it ,  we have first started at the sort of  30,000 - foot level to try and get the big picture view before tackling the thorny issues found in  the center of Jude’s letter .   As we worked together, we came up with something like the following as our summary of Jude’s major point:   God’s grace, mercy, and love shown to us in Jesus Christ, demands and enables us to contend for the faith against ungodliness in the church and to do so through faithful living.   Jude’s  opening  charge is  found  in verse s  3  and 4 :   Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about ...