Yes to Superstar but No to the NFL
It’s less about losing the second service than losing a sabbatical counterculture.
Daniel Meeter
February 8, 2026
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It’s less about losing the second service than losing a sabbatical counterculture.
We should not deny the wonder, and realize that we are saying something about God that we don’t understand when we say that today is
I went inside and told the officer behind the window that I was lost. That was the first lie.
I never did this until four months ago, but now, every night I pray, “Let your holy angels dwell with us to preserve us in
We had immigrated to Canada when I took a call to a Reformed Church in America congregation in Ontario.
Today is Ascension Day. It is a public holiday in parts of Europe. Hemelvaartsdag. New York City observes it by letting you not move your
The language implies that we naturally identify the Kingdom with what we are building or organizing or working on.
Our churches defined themselves by publicly confessing—especially to princes—their common beliefs on issues in conflict.
Meanwhile, to the North, in that other democracy, the Prime Minister has resigned, effective soon. Not a good time, because Canada is at war —
Wisdom is absent from Reformed theology. We don’t talk about it. I wonder why.
Christian Reformed people have been asking me whether they can be “Kuyperian” in the Reformed Church in America (RCA). This is obviously a pressing question
A couple things recently have put me in mind of the late Peter Borgdorff. He was the first Executive Director of the Christian Reformed Church
A recent piece in the New York Times raised an alarm about the “theocratic worldview” of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Uh oh! I have
The Lodi bus was the oldest bus in the Eastern Christian School Association fleet. We knew our lowly status just from riding that bus. The
The Reformed Church in America (RCA) and the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) are close but different. The RCA seems to have more
Why does the Nicene Creed assign “life” to the Holy Spirit — the Lord and Giver of Life — when it gives creation in general
I love the Bible. I am in it daily, sometimes deeply, sometimes lightly, depending on the readings and my mood. The Daily Office requires praying
What most people mean by the word “confessional” is a booth in a church where you tell your sins to the priest. Scholars use the
The Protestant Church in Oman is a mission of the Reformed Church in America, and I gave them a month of pulpit supply during Lent.
Terry Gross was interviewing the author Judy Blume on NPR’s Fresh Air. Blume had grown up secular Jewish, and Gross was asking her about her
During COVID, when I still lived in Brooklyn, my niece took me bird-watching in Prospect Park. It was warbler time, the days were lengthening, and
“Making disciples who grow disciples” — this is what the leadership of the Reformed Church in America (RCA), the denomination to which I belong, claims
I am curious how discipleship became the primary paradigm of the vital Christian life, especially among Protestants. My own denomination, the Reformed Church in America
On Sunday we prayed for the King, in the little Anglican Church in Sharbot Lake, Ontario. During the Intercessions, Mark, a farmer and one of
“Give it back. You can’t have it if you’re going to use it like that. That’s not what it’s for.” Okay, I’ll admit that I
The two synods are over, one for the Reformed Church in America (RCA) and one for the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC). Much
I think I can say that the Reformed Church in America (RCA), the denomination to which I belong, suffers from a closed system of communication.
Stephanie“Why do you think I do all this?” That was Stephanie’s answer to my question, “Tell me, do you believe all this stuff?” I was
Andrei Tarkovsky is my second-favorite movie-maker. Dmitri Shostakovich is my second-favorite symphony composer. And Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote my third-favorite novel, The Brothers Karamazov. In terms
I am chair of our regional synod’s Judicial Business Committee. For the uninitiated, that’s a small team of pastors and elders who handle the business
A well-informed colleague just told me that more than 200 congregations may soon leave the Reformed Church in America (RCA). That’s a fifth of our
Have you been baptized? What does your baptism mean to you? Did you do it or was it done to you? Were you baptized as
I love the doctrine of the Virgin Birth. I believe it. But I don’t think it’s about Our Lord’s divinity, at least not in the
On a recent Sunday I was doing pulpit supply at one of our many mildly historic Reformed churches (RCA) in upstate New York. This one,
The practice of baptizing infants has been sufficiently defended by many writers. (Bromiley’s Children of Promise: The Case for Baptizing Infants [1979] and Brownson’s The
Can a Reformed denomination interpret Scripture collectively to discern God’s will? A Reformed denomination such as the Reformed Church in America is fundamentally a network
I saw them across the water in the early morning, on our lake in Ontario, just beyond Paquin’s Point: a band of geese, maybe half
“Yea, the sparrow hath found her an house, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of
In the middle of March 2015, the Elders Board of City Church San Francisco announced in a letter to its congregation (and published on its
IN ORDER TO SERVE: AN ECUMENICAL INTRODUCTION TO CHURCH POLITY LEO J. KOFFEMAN LIT VERLAG, 2014 264 PP. $41.46 Consider the dustup last March when
BOOK REVIEW PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD N.T. WRIGHT FORTRESS PRESS, 2013 1519 PP. IN TWO VOLUMES $89.00 Bishop N.T. Wright has written a
In 2013, we saw the publication of Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat, the masterful biography by James D. Bratt. When the president of Fuller
The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel?” (1 Samuel 16:1)
Daniel Meeter This book is essential reading for those connected in any way to the Reformed Church in America. It fills a gap in the
Daniel Meeter The lifespan of a dog is about 4,400 days. A mouse gets six hundred. Human beings get 25,560 days, or by reason of
“Behold, the Behemoth, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox.” Job 40:15 If the book of Job is a
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2012: AS WE SEE IT by Daniel Meeter Are Mormons Christians?” When my parishioners ask me this, I answer, “Yes, I think so.” And
Beginning about a year ago, it was my privilege to serve on the search committee for a new general secretary for the Reformed Church in
I love the way the kingbird feeds by acrobatics from the trees along the lake. She lunges from her branch above the water to snatch
I have loved the Belhar Confession for twenty-seven years. I am proud that the Reformed Church in America (RCA) has adopted the Confession as a
I learned it from Meredith Kline (The Structure of Biblical Authority), who got it from George Mendenhall. We’ve had it wrong on the “two tables”
Karl Barth famously wrote that in heaven all the official music is Bach, but in private God listens to Mozart. I’m jealous for Bach, my
It was my great privilege to attend the Uniting General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this past
Every Sunday night I repeat the same dumb little joke. I say to my wife, “Hey hon, guess what I have to do tomorrow.” She
We practice weekly communion in my congregation, and one of the unexpected benefits has been the spiritual empowerment of my elders. They are becoming active
In the summer of 1979 I was watching television on a Sunday afternoon with Dave Henion at his house in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Dave
In my childhood, when it was my turn to do the dishes, one of my diversions was to use a tall glass as an upside-down
Daniel Meeter For my morning devotions I pray the Daily Office. I had first started with the Roman Catholic version, but about six years ago
I remember during the heady days of ecumenism that one of the top Lutheran bishops was happy for the prospect of full communion with the
I wonder how long the doctrine of the Kingdom of God has been disappearing from the Reformed Church in America. Of course no one would
The Magnificat is important to me. I pray it several times a week. I pray the daily office only once a day, so I alternate
What shall we say about the recent books by Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens? Their attack is sharper than we usually see. They go beyond saying