Seventeen82

    You ever put a lot of time and effort building something only to see it fall flat on its face when put into action? Ever prayed, and prayed, and prayed for a deep desire to come true, only to have the moment pass without any movement, at least in the way you were hoping? Put a lot of work into a relationship only to get nothing back? I know you have, because we all have. Taking the lead on things can give you a rush, but the buck is going to stop with you. So how you handle the pressure that comes with it can be tricky, and there are some things we do at the start that change how we go about those labors, many times for the worse. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. So what do you do when what you've poured a ton of time and energy into a thing that doesn’t work out? After the day has come and gone for the project, or the person, and you are left holding the bag? How are we to process failure at this point? Where can we go to find release from the responsibility (whi...

                Tensions are high. For Americans, one of the most highly volatile elections of our time is quickly approaching. For Christian’s, there remains a significant amount of uncertainty concerning the future of the American church and of our religious freedom. For many of us, it has become increasingly difficult to decide where we stand as both political parties seem to drift further and further from basic Christian principles, begging the question, “how should we interact with politics in a secular society?”             As we approach the celebration of the protestant reformation on Saturday, there are, I think, a number of similarities that are worth our consideration as we ask ourselves how we should interact with a politically dominant culture. While there are notable differences between 1517 and 2020, there are a surprising number of similarities. In ...

Where Does Pain Come From and What is It About?        Definitions are important. What is pain? According to the National Library of Medicine it is, “a signal in your nervous system that something may be wrong. It is an unpleasant feeling, such as a prick, tingle, sting, burn, or ache. Pain may be sharp or dull.” Emotional/mental pain can be just as debilitating and serious an issue. The pain-reducing industry is a multi-billion dollar one for a reason. Americans on average spent $10,224 per person on healthcare in 2019 and over $187.8 billion on mental health services in 2013. These are staggering numbers. One of things we will think through in this short essay is why is the world so interested in finding solutions in things that do not provide answers?      When the biblical case is made this truth is really not all that surprising. Looking too deeply into it would mean the world would have to deal with the truth that not only does God exist, bu...

     I had the privilege of preaching the funeral service for a dear saint this past Wednesday, and leading another for someone I had never met prior to conducting his graveside memorial this last Saturday. In both cases there was a blessed commonality. The opportunity to show the blessings of faith in Christ, the hope that we have in the resurrection, and comfort found alone in the finished work of our Savior. But there was something more to what these somewhat disparate circumstances had in common than the blessings of the gospel message. In both services I had read from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and used forms which have left the lips of ministers for 350 years. Now, if you know anything about me you know that I disdain the Anglicization of Presbyterianism that has gone on over the past century or more, especially things like Holy Days, candles, vestments, and the like. However, when it comes to the rubric written out for the Burial of the Dead there is no pee...