First Baptist Church

Not long ago a friend of mine emailed me an article titled I Don’t Worship God by Singing: I Connect With Him Elsewhere. My friend even said something to the effect that he thought we should stop singing in church. I’m not sure what his motivation was; frankly, I haven’t raised the subject with him, and I’m not sure I will.

The article was written by a man named Donald Miller. It was actually a “blog” (short for “web log”, if you didn’t know). It seems that lots of people have blogs these days. Apparently they feel that the world has an urgent need to know what they think about every little thing, or a compelling interest in every little thing they do. The motto for bloggers seems to be: “I believe everybody is entitled to my opinion.” We’re going to have to change the old saying to: “Blogs are like belly buttons: everybody’s got one.”

Anyway, in his blog, Mr. Miller went on at length about how during a recent worship service he attended, in his words: “I wasn’t feeling much of anything.” (And that, after all, is the purpose of church, right? To make us feel something? Or is that the movies? I get confused, listening to people these days.)Read More

It’s been an unusual start to the new year, here at First Baptist Church.

We started off by having to cancel our first services of the year, due to a bitterly cold winter storm being predicted. The Greene County Emergency Management Agency asked that all organizations, including churches, suspend their activities for that Sunday, January 5th. After conferring with one of our Trustees and our Chairman of Deacons, we decided it was probably good citizenship (and submission to a reasonable request from proper authorities; see Romans 13:1)to do as they asked.

So: no church on the first Sunday of the year! My wife said to me that afternoon: “This is kind of a strange parenthesis in our lives.” She was right.

For a couple of days after that, the church building felt like a ghost town. The State Police were still requesting people to limit unnecessary travel, so there were very few folks about. My footprints were the only ones leading up to and away from the church for two days. I normally like being at the church by myself (I can get a lot of things done), but this just felt eerily quiet. Too quiet.Read More

Once again we’re on the threshold of another new year. The sense of time passing faster only increases the older you get. An aging actor was once asked by an interviewer, “What is it like to get old?” He replied, “You eat breakfast every half hour.” When I first heard that, I thought he meant, he ate a lot. Then I realized he meant that it seems like morning comes every thirty minutes. I’m beginning to understand that.

I love the Book of Psalms, and Psalm 139 is one of my favorites. I am especially drawn to verse 16. The King James Version renders it this way:

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

The first phrase refers to our growth in the womb. The Hebrew word for substance was used to refer to “the body”. Unperfect means “unformed” or “unfinished”. The idea is that God was watching over you in His providential care from the very beginning of your existence, even before your birth.Read More

I love Christmas time. It was always my mother’s favorite time of year, too. It seems to come hurtling at us faster than it used to, and there always seems to be too much to do and too little time to do it. And I really don’t remember feeling so tired at Christmas time when I was a kid!

But I still love it. I love the Christmas trees (the Reformer Martin Luther was the first to decorate an evergreen tree – with real candles! – based on Isaiah 60:13); I love Saint Nicholas (he was the bishop of Lycia in the 4th century, who was noted for his love for the poor, especially in giving small bags of gold to children); and I love the gifts, which mirror the gifts that the Wise men brought to the Baby Jesus in Matthew 2:11, and which reflect the image of our Creator who “so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (John 3:16; see also Luke 11:13).Read More

I’m always a little uncomfortable during a “Pastor Appreciation Dinner”.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s very nice, and I am grateful for all the kind and affirming things you say to my wife and me, in person or in cards and notes. Pastor Lee Eclov says that a congregation feeds it’s pastor, as well as the pastor feeding the congregation. That is absolutely true, and your expressions of affirmation have fed my spirit, and my wife’s. So we’re both grateful. I am grateful.

But I’m always a little uncomfortable, too. After you have commended me for various things, I can’t help but think of this Scripture: “So likewise ye, when you shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” (Luke 17:10 KJV)

And I sometimes wish I were really as good as some of you think I am.Read More

I’m going to tell you something I thought I’d never say (or put into writing): recently my wife and I decided to stop drinking coffee and wean ourselves off of caffeine. (Relax: this isn’t about trying to get you to do the same.)

If you know me at all, you’re probably surprised. For the last seventeen years or so I have drunk coffee, bought coffee, ground coffee and brewed coffee. I have read and researched coffee’s history and how to make it properly, at restaurant strength.

I have purchased my own whole beans and tried out several different kinds of grinders. I’ve collected a large assortment of coffee mugs (if you’ve been in our kitchen, you can testify). I’ve had many different kinds of coffee makers: drip makers, French presses, espresso machines, a stove top espresso maker, and a Keurig. I have all kinds of coffee gadgets, with which to measure, store, stir, foam, flavor and serve coffee.Read More

One morning recently my wife said to me, “I used to think that people who did the same thing everyday were boring. But I’ve come to realize how wonderful it is to do simple things: to get a good night’s sleep, to have breakfast at home, to have good food to eat and meaningful work to do, and to come home to your own place, to sit and rest at the end of the day. These things are all gifts.” I could only agree with her. I confess to having much the same thoughts myself.

Last Sunday night after the evening worship service, I was at home in my chair, sharing a bottle of ginger ale with my grandson, who was sitting on my lap. I’m always pretty spent by Sunday evening, but relieved, too: I got all three sermons done again this week! Yay! (Our daughter says that Sunday nights after church are the best time of the week in a preacher’s house.)

We’d had a bit of a surprise earlier that day: the plumbing had started backing up. Now that will complicate your life! But the plumber had promised to come in the morning, and we decided to take advantage of the showers at church before bedtime. (Bless whoever decided to put those in the building plans!) So there we were, just beginning to enjoy a slow Sunday night.Read More

Memory is a wonderful thing, but it is often a humbling thing, too. Sometimes my wife will look at me and ask, “What are you doing?” And I’ll say: “Trying to remember why I came in here!”

It’s not just older folks who have trouble with memory. Bill Cosby said that all teenagers are brain-damaged from smacking themselves in the head and saying: “…I forgot!”

Remembering is frustrating sometimes, especially when it comes to reading. Sometimes I’ll read something I’ve read before. I know I’ve read it it before, because I can see my notes in the margins and places where I’ve highlighted. I’ll think: “Oh, yeah: I’d forgotten this was in this book. This is really good stuff!” Sometimes I even make more notes and highlight more of the text, apparently thinking that just maybe it’ll work this time and I’ll remember it!Read More