All Posts By

Steve Mathonnet-VanderWell

Uncommon Grace

Averagely scrumptious. Tolerably ravishing. Mediocrely luxurious. Do such phrases make sense you? How about “common grace.” A bit oxymoronic, perhaps? Is grace ever common and

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Blog

The Sermon I Didn’t Preach

We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being, whom we call God— Eternal

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Blog

Virgin Fetish

How’s that for a title to appeal to your prurient interests? Actually, and to my own embarrassment, I once uttered those words. More on that

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Blog

Love Wins Redux

I never read Rob Bell’s Love Wins.  Along with the youth in our congregation, I have appreciated his Nooma video series. Actually, lots of our

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It’s Only Natural

Ewwwh—that’s just gross!  It is wrong on so many levels.  I often hear people, Christians actually, making visceral comments like this about complex ethical issues. 

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Blog

Builds Strong Bodies

“I grew up in a home where we believed in miracles.  We took the Bible literally—or at least we said we did.  We called my

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Blog

Off the Tracks

This is a story of two of my good friends.  They don’t really know each other beyond name and face, but their stories strike me

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Valentine’s PhiloSophie

On this Valentine’s Day, please allow me the personal privilege of writing an ode to my wife of nearly 30 years.  Her name being Sophie

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Voting for a Mormon

The January issue of Perspectives has two articles about the possibility of a Mormon president.  Jack Van Der Slik, emeritus political science professor from Illinois-Springfield

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