Seventeen82

This post was originally sent to the members of Chester ARP Church as a pastoral letter written in response to the school shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, TN on March 27, 2023.   Like most of you, I watched the news in horror Monday evening as the reports came streaming in from the most recent school shooting in our country. Sadly, these kinds of reports have become all too familiar to us.    I remember standing in the lobby of Burgaw Hall on the NC State Campus as the news from Columbine High School was reported in 1999. I was shocked that someone would open fire in a school. But that was then. In the 24 years since Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 15 of their classmates and injured another 24, we have seen over 350 more active shooter situations on our K-12 school and college campuses. That is staggering.    Thankfully, most of those situations have not ended in mass casualties. However, that does not mean that the collective numbers of those sh...

Do you seek God’s direction in every aspect of your life? Or, do you have the same struggle as I do in which you make your decisions and then ask God to bless those decisions or to rescue from their consequences?   If you had the chance to ask the Apostle Paul any one question, what would it be? Would it be theological? Would it practical? Would it be historical?   Because of my pragmatic nature, I think I’d ask him to give me 3-4 things that a Christian should do to grow in his or her faith.  Since I can’t ask him that question, I’ve thought about what actions he might identify as essential for a Christian to live a faithful life as I’ve worked my way through 1 Thessalonians with our congregation. I’ve concluded that he would say there are four things that we must do, in addition to placing our faith in Christ, in order to be faithful throughout our lives. They are:  Read and believe the Bible (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Live your life in accordance with the Bible...

  When I was in Boot Camp down at Parris Island there was nothing better than receiving a letter, though there is a funny story about that. As a kid I made a lot of money cutting grass. One place I mowed regularly that did not provide me with a reward for that labor was at my house. My dad figured giving me a place to live, food, and clothing was a sufficient kick-back. To that end I had a little over an acre to push mow towards the end of high school in Pocahontas County, WV. A common wish I made of my father was that a riding lawnmower would be a nice admission to the family. He responded to me request by noting that I was doing a fine job with the one we had. Well, not a month-and-a-half after being under the care of Chesty Puller I received a note in the post, contained in that envelope was a polaroid. While my dad was not Ansel Adams I could clearly make out a Murray product that had four wheels, and a deck underneath that was clearly meant for taking the grass down a few pegs...

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” — Matthew 9:37-38 Jesus calls us to participate in his mission to redeem sinners by prayer and action in Matthew 9:35-10:15. We are to pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers, and we are to participate in the harvest. Notice the following four points about Jesus’ life, ministry, and expectations for his disciples in this passage. First, Jesus was actively involved in a ministry that demonstrated and exercised the power of his kingdom (9:35). He taught in the synagogues. He proclaimed the good news of his kingdom. And, he healed every disease and affliction. Second, Jesus had compassion on the crowds of people who had gathered around him because they were harassed and helpless (9:36). They were weary, tired, exhausted, exposed, and dejected. Their leaders, who were supposed to care for them, had aband...

  I've been thinking a lot about communication recently, particularly with the regards to the irony that we are more connected than ever before and yet we are worse communicators than we've ever been. I've heard it argued that this is because we are too busy to actually take the time to think about what the best way is to communicate with other people. And I agree. However, I think there are several other reasons why we struggle to communicate despite having countless media in which to do it.  First, I think most of us are overly consumed with ourselves and the lives of those we think are dependent upon us. We have unprecedented opportunities and choices before us every day. As a result, we have more responsibility than ever as we wade through these innumerable decisions. This necessarily causes us to spend the majority of our energy weighing all the options and making decisions that bygone generations either took for granted or didn't have.  Second, I think we are far ...

  Twenty-five years ago, my friend Brian asked me the pointed question, “What is faith?” I did not have an adequate answer even though I thought I did. I had been raised in a Christian home where we discussed faith often. We talked about our faith in God, our faith in one another, and our faith in the Bible. I had also participated in organized sports from the time I was old enough to join a team. Coaches had instilled in me the importance of faith in my teammates, faith in the game plan, faith in my coaches, and faith in my preparation. I knew a lot about faith as a result of these experiences, but I didn’t know what it was. Looking back on Brian’s question, I think that’s the reason he asked it.    Brian was a staff member with the Christian organization Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru). He was specifically assigned to Cru’s ministry on NC State’s campus. His job was to ask hard questions of student leaders to help us grow in our understanding of the Christian Faith. He ...

We are living in some wild and crazy times, and we all know it. I haven’t spoken with anyone in the last 6 months who thinks otherwise. It also seems that we are all asking the same question: How are we supposed to live with everything going on?    We have heard a load of answers to this question from all kinds of different voices. (Some are better than others.) As a Christian pastor, I am convinced, however, that the only voice Christians should listen to is that of God, which we find in the Bible.    The Apostle Peter, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us some really helpful instruction in his first letter on how we are to live at all times, but especially during those times of great uncertainty and confusion. I have identified 7 particular things we should be doing right now. Here they are.    1.       Trust the Lord Jesus with Our Lives (1 Peter 1:3-12)  – The first and most important thing any Christi...

                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 ...

  Battlefield             I am convinced that music is one of the greatest gifts God has given to us. In music we find joy, happiness, hope, and excitement. Music makes us feel things that mere words often cannot. Music, in all its various forms, is important for the soul. This is one of the reasons, I believe, that God has called us to worship through music.             A number of years ago now, a Christian hip-hop artist called KB released the song “Open Letter.” In this song, he describes these letters that he has received from various people coming to his concerts. They wrote to him about how encouraging his concerts has been. But, more than that, each letter sought something more of him. In the first letter, a girl named Ashley writes to him, telling him about her struggle with sin, singleness, and homosexual longing. As she finishes her letter, she pleads with ...

One of the common themes I keep hearing in, both from within the church and without, is- “I’m tired of all of this.” It’s funny that they don’t have to explain what “this” is. We all seem to know. People are tired of wearing masks, social distancing, limiting attendance, worrying about getting sick (or loved ones), working from home, zoom meetings, and isolation. Add to this all of the social, political, and economic strife flooding the news, social media, and conversations. The daily wrestling with intense emotions, day after day, is wearing people out. Tensions are higher, and conflict is greater in our nation, communities, and homes.  University Psychology departments are identifying this and calling it “Pandemic Fatigue.” I’m sure many in the Christian church, perhaps even in leadership roles, are experiencing this. Some may be suffering and trying to hide it, out of concern that they might appear weak in their faith or somehow ‘less’ a Christian than they should be.  Firs...

In a Bible Study last fall, our congregation had a lively discussion as we studied Westminster Shorter Catechism Question #20, which asks, “Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?” The answer is: “God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.” Our teacher, Buzzy Elder, did a good job unpacking the answer in three parts – God’s motivation for his salvation, the subjects of his salvation, and his method of salvation. We were encouraged to hear that God chooses to save his people (us) from their (our) sin and its effects out of his own pleasure and that he accomplished this salvation through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. As Buzzy prepared to move on to Question #21, someone asked the question, “Well, who is actually saved?” I thought, ...

               For someone who grew up in small, southern churches (mostly Baptist and a few non-denominational churches), the first time I attended a Presbyterian church was a unique and enlightening experience. For the first time in my life, there were people who not only understood and talked about their bibles, but who understood and talked about theology. Over the course of my late high school and early college years, I continued to attend the same church and was often challenged to think through the doctrines of our faith. I was presented with large, theological words like impassibility (God does not have human emotion) and aseity (God is self-existent or independent). Not only were those words used in casual conversation, they were explained and applied to my life.             Looking back now, I can see how such teaching was extremely important to my spiritual development. Not only d...