Well, happy day. Or actually—happy days. Two young couples are having their young babies baptized this month on back to back Sundays. Both couples recognize God’s gift in their newborns. Professing their faith to God, they want to ensure eternal safety with their son in one case, and their daughter...

A letter addressed “Dear Pastor” recently arrived from an inmate at Camp Hill Correctional Institution. In it, Matthew (not his real name) tells me his mom, who is older and in poor health, is taking care of his young daughter. Matthew said his mom barely has $5 left at the...

This may have happened to you if you’re a green thumb person. In your flower or vegetable garden, some unidentifiable “gift” started from seed and grew quickly enough that you knew it was not a weed. Green Thumbers, you have some universal code in cases like this. You don’t pull...

“Unless your congregation is made up entirely of people who own two homes or who can afford to take three-month vacations every summer,” writes Ann A. Michel of the Lewis Center for Church Worship in an article called Avoiding a Summer Drop in Worship Attendance, “it is simply a myth...

As a small child, you thought the world of your mom, dad, or significant adult figure. They were smart, strong, capable, talented and, in your young mind, they met your every need. When in their lap, you knew you were safe, cared for, and loved. Something happened later. A crack...

  Thomas Jefferson knew what he was talking about. In our Declaration of Independence, written with a profound conviction and belief in freedom, Jefferson makes a scathing indictment of the abuses inflicted by the king of Great Britain. In what would change world history, he justifies the decision of the...

We all need a Superman. Adam Shaffer is one of them. Tall, dark-haired, athletic. Add handsome. I did not see his superhero gear, but under his Clark Kent suit…who knows? Adam is a funeral director. That’s really the wrong name for professionals like him who truly show the world super...

Even if you are not a father (and yes, ladies, this is obviously you!), or if you have had experiences with your dad and are thankful this past Sunday is over, consider what it would be like if every day were Father’s Day. Professing Christians do celebrate their Father every...

Proverbs 9:10a says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” Who fears the Lord? That’s a good question these days. Conservative theology and its practitioners are quiet on this these days. Liberal theology and its practitioners don’t often want to walk or talk here. A great number...

No one has escaped a hard knock from a hard person. In Ezekiel 12:2, the prophet tells us what should not surprise us: rebellious people have ears that can’t hear, eyes that can’t see, and hearts that can’t understand. I know a man who passes his neighbor’s house every day....