“Dr. Mast I Presume”

“As the body of Christ, we are called to a Missional Life of Caring for Creation, Social Justice, Benevolence Care, Discipling Missions, Daily Missions, Servant Evangelism and Evangelism. The Missional Life is one that looks outward and seeks those places where we can bring the grace of Christ to a hurting world.” (Dr. Mark Mast)

The word came from Holland Michigan that Mark Mast’s doctoral dissertation was approved at Western Seminary on Tuesday. On Wednesday he presented his work to the seminary community. I spoke with a friend who said that the crowd that came out to hear the presentation was larger than usual. Read more »

 The “E” Bomb

 Last Sunday I got in trouble with an atheist as I talked with her about people I call the “evangelical” atheists.  She said that she took offense to my calling them evangelicals.  I went on to explain my language, saying that anybody who has a world view they share with another, with any hope of that person living a better, more fulfilled life through that world view, is an evangelical.  The root of the word evangelism, is good news.  Whether you are sharing the benefits of a new diet, an exercise regime, a world view that advocates low carbon emissions, or the good news of Jesus Christ, you are an evangelist.   Read more »

Conversion 

“Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters  at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” (1 Cor 15:6-8)

 Last week in a packed church we heard the good news that Christ is risen.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians and encouraged them to talk to people who had encountered the risen Christ.  He includes himself on the list at the end.  This week, probably in a less packed church, we will begin to hear the stories of how that event changed lives in scripture and continues to change lives of people we know. Read more »

 ”An Easter Dedication” 

Therefore, my beloved,  be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Cor. 15:58)

Many of you know that I have been reading a number of the “evangelical atheists” this Lent.  These are some authors (Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris) who have appeared on the scene aggressively arguing an atheist world view and trying to get many to convert .  It may seem like a strange Lenten discipline for a pastor, but it has prepared me for Easter Sunday like never before.  Especially in light of news I have received this week. Read more »

Giving in Our Dying

 “I believe in the communion of saints”

 This week I talked to a couple who were making plans for when they die.  It was a hope-filled conversation.  The wife’s request was that she would give $50,000 from her will, and any other money added by memorial gifts, into a fund that would pay for young people to go on mission trips. She has seen the difference mission trips make in the life of young people, so when she is gone from this earth she wants to make sure she is still giving for this important cause. Read more »

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 “Where there is no vision, the people perish”  Proverbs 29:18 KJV

 Next Saturday our consistory and ministry area leaders will be on retreat in the youth house.  I write today to ask you to pray for us, speak with us and work with us, as we seek to develop our vision and plans for the next three to five years.  Read more »

Welcome Wesley

 “O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory.”  (Psalm 98:1)

 Chalk it up to the latest evidence of God’s providence; we are hiring Wesley Joseph to be our organist and choir director.  God has done marvelous things!  Read more »

A Clearing Season

There will be a wardrobe in worship at Hopewell this Sunday.  It will be symbolically crammed with all the crud that confuses our lives.  We stuff our stuff in the closet and hope that it stays hidden, and then one day we open it up and it all comes tumbling out.  It is time to clear some things up in our lives; to simplify and sort through what we need to see clearly.  This Lent, for the next six weeks, that will be the image we work with; a clearing season. Read more »

“Belhar” 

For these past three weeks we have been highlighting the Belhar Confession in our worship and my preaching.  “The Dutch Reformed Mission Church formally adopted the Belhar Confession in 1986. It is now one of the “standards of unity” of the new Uniting Reformed Church of Southern Africa (URCSA). Belhar’s theological confrontation of the sin of racism has made possible reconciliation among Reformed churches in Southern Africa and has aided the process of reconciliation within the nation of South Africa.” Read more »

 ”The State of the Union”

President Obama stood before a joint session of Congress and shared the bad news.  Things are tough.  Sunday at noon, I will stand before a joint session of our congregation and share the good news.  God is good!  Our congregational meetings have gotten better and better as we have shared stories of ministry at HRC rather than simply balance sheets and reports on the year that was. Read more »

One hundred years ago Addison Bird left his pastorate at The Hopewell Reformed Church and planted the Arlington Reformed Church in Poughkeepsie.  A century later the consistories of Hopewell and Arlington have been working on a plan to have Randy Prentiss work with Arlington Reformed on a fresh start in ministry in Poughkeepsie. Read more »

 Haiti Hits Home 

 The day after the earthquake in Haiti, Lia, a woman from Bright Beginnings was in the fellowship hall weeping because she did not know about her family’s well being in the tragedy that was unfolding.  Lourdes and I prayed with her and we are hoping that she gets good news.  I have not heard about Lia’s family yet, but most of the news from Haiti is not good.  Read more »

Three Keys to Our Growth

Happy New Year Everyone!  It is exciting to start a new decade, even if we haven’t figured out what to call it: twenty-ten, or two thousand and ten.  That will work itself out, I guess. We begin the new year at Hopewell building on the ministry foundations that have brought us through the last decade: ChristCare, Missions and Healthy Leadership. Read more »

  From Our House to Yours-

Merry Christmas

“For unto us a child is born-unto us a Son is given”

 Dear Friends,

  Since we have a lot of snow on the ground and the girls are getting ready to come home, it feels like the perfect time to send out Christmas cards. Here is what’s been going on in our family: Read more »

Love Made Visible

 “What then should we do?”  In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”  (Luke 3:10-11)

This week I did a radio interview with Charlie North, the head of the Poughkeepsie Area Chamber of Commerce.   Charlie asked me about the mission trip we were taking to the Dominican Republic, but in a few sentences it opened up to all the missional work HRC is doing in the greater Poughkeepsie area.  Jeremiah encourages the people of God to seek the welfare of the city in which they were living.  Hopewell is living into that in ways that I love to speak of.  Read more »

Beds and Bucks

 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.  Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, people will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.  (2 Corinthians 9:12-13)

My friend Marty was shouting,” Amen, Hallelujah” this week.  Marty would hardly dare  darken the door of a church.  He believes little, if anything, about the person of Christ,. But this week he drove a van proclaiming:” To Know Christ and to Make Him Known.”, as he made Christ known by supplying beds in the name of Christ to people in need.  Read more »

Where in the World Are You Invested?

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal;  but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust  consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  (Matthew 6:19-21)

On Sunday, I said my hope for followers of Christ at HRC is that we all would be audited by the IRS.  My prayer is that the charitable giving of people in this congregation will throw up red flags so the auditors would say, “People don’t give that much away!” Read more »

 Beds In the Name of Christ

Tonight, at our 7:30 PM Thanksgiving Eve service, our offering will be going to Love INC (Love in the name of Christ).  We have committed to help Love INC supply beds to those who have none.  Read more »

 Our Church Refrigerator 

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.” (Psalm 100:4) 

Our gratitude wall is pretty empty.  Two Sundays ago we invited people to paste, post and poke pictures and messages of gratitude on a big wall in the Fellowship Hall.  It will be the back drop for our Thanksgiving Eve service.  So far it does not seem that we have much to be grateful for, or we have placed the wall in the wrong place, or have not captured the heart of the congregation in this exercise of thanks.  Read more »

It’s Not About the Money

Lance Armstrong wrote a book titled: “It’s Not About the Bike.”  It is the story about his life and his battle with cancer.  His historic string of victories in the Tour de France became a sub note to the main event of the book, which is his fight for life. Read more »

Spirituality and Sheetrock 

I am glad  I got out of  Jerusalem when I did.  This past week there was conflict on the Temple Mount and Palestinian youths faced off against Israeli police in the old city.  I am sure that it would have affected my shopping.  The week before we arrived in the Holy Land the Old City was closed as well because of tensions.  Read more »

Looking for the Living Christ

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he  lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead,  and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” (Matthew 28:5-7)

Last week I went to see the place where Jesus lay- actually two places:  One is the Garden Tomb discovered in 1867,the other, the church of the Holy Sepulcher dating back to the fourth century- two tombs, no Jesus.  The words that I reflect on most from Matthew following my to the Holy Land are “he is going ahead of you to Galilee”. Read more »

From the Holy Land to the Holy Land

I write this from the Holy Land—Holland, Michigan, that is, the center of the Reformed Church in America where I am meeting with the Board of Trustees at Hope College. Read more »

The 6% Challenge

Hopewell has been blessed with rich resources for many years.  Our leadership has not talked about money much at all.  This year that has changed.  Much of consistory has been talking about money and the challenges we face with our finances.  We have formed a budget team to look at 2010.  This team includes me, Kevin Warren (the vice president of Consistory),  Gary Cassaro (our head Deacon),  Mark Mast and Perry Lambeth (financial management man extraordinaire).  We are working hard to get spending in line with our vision as well as our income for 2010.  Read more »

 A Time of Prayer (A Call from our Elders)

God invites us into relationship with Him.

Key to any relationship is communication and for that we have prayer.  It is through prayer that we come before God and place our needs, our joys, our concerns, our burdens, our questions and our challenges.  And it is also through prayer that we have the opportunity to hear God talking to us. Read more »

Making A Joyful Noise

What is happening with our music?  It is a good question right now as we head into the fall.  Let me answer it in relation to each of our worship services. Read more »

Happy Birthday 9/11

 Today is a day of great joy for me.  My eldest daughter Hilary turns twenty-two.  She was born 9/11/87.  My nephew Jack turns fourteen today.  He was also born on September 11^th.  He almost died his first year of life.   This day, for me, is always a precious reminder of the gift of life.  Both were born before 9/11 became a day of infamy, associated with terror and a fault line of history that we will always remember. Read more »

“The Beginning of an Odyssey”

 Odyssey: An extended adventurous voyage or trip. An intellectual or spiritual quest: an odyssey of discovery.

 HRC Odyssey began in the mind of God long before the first service of worship this year in Tymor Park.  It was in the mind of Chris Snider long before her son Jamie came with joy to sing songs of praise and share worship with his girlfriend.  It was in the mind of Mark Mast long before he was called to Hopewell and ever knew there was a place called Unionvale, New York. Read more »

“Leaving a Legacy” 

“For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed.” (Acts 13:36)

 This week the news has been filled with the Legacy of Ted Kennedy.  A flawed hero of our time.  The tribute that I have heard  most in memorializing Kennedy has been: “he stood up for the poor and the little guy.”  Not a bad way to be remembered. Read more »

“4 AM with Abraham Lincoln” 

At four in the morning I was awake with Abraham Lincoln, reading about Salmon Chase going to Ohio and starting his campaign to challenge Lincoln for the presidency in 1864.  Why do I give you this little picture of my study last night?  It is not the content of my reading, but the reason for my reading that I share with you this morning. Read more »

“Facing the Giants”

“Every generation gets a chance to change the world
Pity the nation that won’t listen to your boys and girls
‘Cause the sweetest melody is the one we haven’t heard”  (Bono)

Bono, the lead singer from U2,  spoke to the Leadership Summit and presented the challenge that within the grasp of our generation is the ability to end extreme poverty in our time.  The benefits of a global economy come with the challenge  to address global poverty.  Read more »

“Taking it to the streets… or at least the parking lot”

This Sunday our Gatherings service will meet under the tent at 8:45.  We join the kids out there as our VBS is held this week and the kids begin and end each day in the tent.  We first worshipped in the tent for fourteen weeks in the summer of 2001, when our sanctuary was going through a renovation.  We had fourteen weeks of beautiful weather and many enjoyed the outdoor worship in spite of the Harleys roaring by as some motorcycle club headed out for a on the Taconic.  Read more »

“Preach, Pray or Die”

Cathy’s grandfather, Henry Bast, taught preaching at Western Seminary.  One of his famous lines was: “A pastor always needs to be ready at a moment’s notice to preach, pray or die.”  I don’t know what Henry would think of my summer slogan: “Preach, Play and Pray,” but that is my anticipation of what my summer moments will be like. Read more »

“Happy 500th John Calvin”

Today is the 500^th birthday of John Calvin.  On Sunday a Calvin College graduate accused me of not mentioning this significant day because of my loyalties to Hope College. (The definition of an atheist in West Michigan is someone who does not care who wins the Hope/Calvin game.)  But far be it from me to let collegiate rivalries cloud a celebration of one of my heroes of faith and a day to remember one who has shaped our world and our church in such significant ways.  Last week The New York Times stated: “Calvin’s legacy has been traced in everything from modern marriage and modern science to modern liberal government and of course modern capitalism. By many accounts, he is a major source of modernity’s very understanding of the self.” Read more »

 “Hey, Shout, Summer Time Blues”  

The apostle Paul urges Timothy to be urgent in season and out of season.  When it comes to our finances and giving, we need to heed Paul’s advice.  The summer is a season of the blues in giving to the church.  Our weekly giving tends to drop through July and August.  We have new financial tools to help us be urgent out of season. Read more »

“A Call to Transformation”

In the Potter’s Hands By Pam Hansen (Guest “In Touch” writer)

One of the requirements of my graduate school program was to take a ‘Spiritual Formation’ Class.  Being raised and nurtured in the church all my life and having attended a Christian college, I started out thinking that this class would be an easy ‘A’.  Intellectually I knew a great deal about a life in faith.  I had been to church, Sunday school, and youth group.  I had been on mission trips and participated in evangelical endeavors.  I was ahead of the game in this class, and would surely prove that I knew all about being spiritually formed. Read more »

“A Covenant Commissioning”

Q. Should infants, too, be baptized?

A. Yes. Infants as well as adults are in God’s covenant and belong to God’s people. They, no less than adults, are promised the forgiveness of sins through Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit who gives faith. Therefore by baptism, the sign of the covenant, infants should be received into the Christian church and should be distinguished from the children of unbelievers. This was done in the Old Testament by circumcision, which was replaced in the New Testament by baptism.  (Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 27) Read more »

“The Torch is Passed”

“Christianity is only one generation away from extinction.”

Last night the elders met with the 2009 confirmation group.  This is always one of my favorite nights of the year.  Read more »

“This Is Church!”

It was a blizzard in February when a guest preacher delivered a smokin’ sermon on judgment and Jesus. Steve Shenkman sat close to the front row and I thought we would never see him again. Read more »

 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:16-18) Read more »