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The takeaway is that the elder Paul Simon, the great music man of his time (move over, Bob), though now gray, half deaf, and of raspy voice, professes the mystery and allure of beauty amid the perplexing mystery of the human capacity to relish, exult, know, and express. Throughout Seven Psalms, in multiple forms ranging from chant to song story, Simon meditates on the strangeness of the reign (or rain) of the marvel of being alive in this resplendent cosmos.

Trump is an antichrist because he seeks to put himself in the place of Christ and because his words and actions are a grotesque and demonic travesty of the real Christ. But there is a further reason that he is an antichrist: There are people, including Reformed Christians, who embrace him as their supposed Messiah, even if they do not all seem to be fully aware that they are doing so. Without their support – their discipleship – Trump would…

How did we get to a point wherein significant educational inequities – injustices – seem intractable? And why aren’t Christians shouting from the rooftops about it? Why doesn’t educational injustice seem to make the list of our primary concerns? Or maybe even our secondary concerns?

There have been many metaphors for pastors. How might we enrich our understanding of the pastoral role by considering pastors as “stewards of the Mystery?”

Some time has passed since June’s Christian Reformed Church Synod 2024. The Reformed Journal reached out to several people from across the CRC asking them to respond to three questions.

Our democracy is the beloved wooden boat. It only persists through love and maintenance and attention to see and replace the rot it before it sinks the whole enterprise. And it takes work.

I know many people who have spent their lifetimes clustered for refuge in a church (Reformed, Christian Reformed, Evangelical-Whatever). Now they refuse to do so and would rather paddle off into whatever the future brings without it. They tell of feeling bereft, anxious, and guilty. They are grieving.

There are many women of earlier generations - and still today - whose brilliance, talents and professional skills contribute significantly to the success of their male partner. And, in spite of their spouse’s acknowledgments, they often remain underestimated or largely overlooked.

If you know a pastor’s spouse, check in with them. Give honest space to share. They might be bearing more than you know. Pastoring can be a very hard and demanding job. I know. I’ve been there. But I’ve also come to learn that being a pastor’s spouse brings unique challenges of its own, burdens often not known or understood.

God unmistakably did call Dr. Ida. Though she was determined not to follow her father and his seven siblings into RCA mission work, determined not to spend her life in "dirty, dusty" India, she found she could do nothing else after being present one night at the successive deaths of three women in childbirth because their husbands refused for cultural and religious reasons to allow male doctors to attend them. As she heard the funeral drums the morning after all…