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Daniel Meeter

Daniel Meeter is the pastor emeritus of the “Old First'' Reformed Dutch Church of Brooklyn NY. He and Melody have retired to New Paltz NY, where he does pulpit supply, some teaching, childcare of grandchildren, and feeding birds.    

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Tradition

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 switched to the Book of Common Prayer. One reason I did so was for the excellent collects of the Prayerbook. A "collect" is a compact prayer with a specific fivefold structure of address, attribution, request, result, and closing. (See John Witvliet's introduction, "Collective Wisdom," in the Christian Century of July 29, 2008.) Collects came…
Daniel Meeter
October 16, 2008
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Watching the Anglicans

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 Episcopalians because it took them one step closer to Rome. Well, the next step will have to be like Neil Armstrong's, because the American Episcopalians are still in trouble with Canterbur y. Bishop Gene New Hampshire (that would be Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson) was pointedly uninvited to the latest Lambeth Conference, which is a big…
Daniel Meeter
June 1, 2008
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The RCA and the Kingdom of God

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 deny the doctrine, but it's hardly robust in the denomination, and it hardly informs or inspires or directs us. Yet it is the single doctrine most characteristically "Reformed." The doctrine has had its variations in the RCA. Orthodox Calvinists stress the "Sovereignty of God" and matters of divine election. Liberals and progressives stress the "Kingdom…
Daniel Meeter
March 1, 2008
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The Magnificat

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 the canticles for morning and evening: the Benedictus and the Magnificat. I love both, and I always look forward to saying them. You can feel the old man in the Benedictus and the young woman in the Magnificat. The first is about resolution and the second is about upheaval. It's wonderful that the tradition is…
Daniel Meeter
December 16, 2007
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Apologetics and Widows

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 we can't know if there's a god; they say we need to know there's not. They don't just say religion is backward, they say it's bad. Should we answer them? Somebody should, at least for the record. There are innocent people who find their arguments compelling and who would be well served by decent rejoinders.…
Daniel Meeter
October 1, 2007