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Dear Friends,

As we look forward to celebrate Jesus on this Lord’s Day, I’d like to invite you to meditate on Genesis 11:1-9, an Old Testament narrative text, and prepare our hearts for worship.

John Calvin says that every human being is born with a knowledge that God exists (sensus divinitatis). Based on this assumption, I believe that the story of the Babel Tower helps us understand who we are. The story also shows how sin affects our original identity.

Genesis is the book of origins and tells the story of all mankind. In the first big section (Genesis 1-11), starting with Adam and Eve, the book shows that we have lost our original “home.”  Genesis 11:1-9 concludes this first section and tells us, that in essence, we are sojourners, longing to find a place that will provide us safety and fulfillment.

The world presents to us a multitude of false hopes and fake promises – all of them promising a safe place that will make us feel secure. Like the little pig, who built a house made of straw, foolishly thinking that the house would protect him from the bad wolf.Read More

Dear Friends,
When you think of the Bible, what kinds of thoughts or words come to your mind?  Are they predominantly negative or positive? What sorts of emotions and images are evoked within you? Do you picture an old, beat up, tattered book? Do you picture a dusty artifact the helps fill out the bookshelf but which serves little to no other use? Perhaps you think of an exciting and captivating story, or maybe you picture a list of dry and impossible rules.

All of us have a relationship with the Bible; the question is what kind of relationship? Is it an on-again-off-again relationship, or is it a thriving relationship? Is it a weekends and Holidays only sorta relationship? Maybe the best way to describe your relationship with the Bible is one of ambivalence or confusion…maybe you’re on a break right now…or maybe you know it is time, and its been time for a while, to define the relationship…

Whatever thoughts or emotions are evoked, and however you and I relate to the Bible, the psalmist has something to say to us. In Psalm 119, the psalmist spends 176 verses meditating on the nature of God’s Word–what it is–and how we are to relate to it. In verses 1-16, our focus this Sunday morning, the psalmist describes God’s Word–the Bible in all its parts–as something that is personal and life-giving because, in and through it, the God of the universe actively relates to His people in order that He might captivate our imaginations and transform our desires.

I am looking forward to our time together with the Lord this Sunday!

Guest Pastor Dave Lindberg

Dear Friends,

Eleven years ago, way back in 2007, I ended my relationship with Circuit City. I ordered an iPod online, but it didn’t arrive. After several calls and promises that it would be delivered soon, they finally admitted they could not track the shipment. However, they refused to refund my payment. I got so frustrated with their terrible customer service that, when the iPod finally arrived, I only opened the box to find the return label and ship it right back. I didn’t think twice. Whenever I got an email from them, I would think about all the phone calls, the time I waited on hold, the broken promises, and that charge that sat on my credit card for three months. It didn’t matter what kind of special sale they offered, I was now with Best Buy. I wasn’t surprised when, about a year later, Circuit City announced their bankruptcy. In fact, it probably validated my irritation somehow. That’s how it works with a consumer driven society. You have options. You don’t have to put up with bad service or broken promises.

I’ve been thinking about this as I’ve read the next three sections of the Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus talks about sexuality, lust, and promises, I think he is addressing “commitment” in difficult relationships. People let you down, dreams go unfulfilled, and expectations often are not met. Commitment costs even though it pays.  But a life without commitment is not a life worth living.Read More