Inviting young adults into justice-centered work not only recognizes their voices, it shows them a church that genuinely cares about the mission of Jesus.

This past Friday, January 16, is referred to as “Quitter’s Day,” because it’s the date by which most new year’s resolutions have been abandoned. January

What if our varying experiences of grief are not progressive points along a line of time but places to which we travel and in which

Judgments, I have discovered, are usually my own. Other people are usually kinder than my brain.

Last week on the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing’s blog, I reflected a bit on the onslaught of end of the year “best-of” book

I remember the reluctance to put Sunday clothes back on after a restful afternoon. I remember the promise of ice cream after the service. I

Any woman with the gift of teaching and preaching, a grasp of the Bible and ability to speak authoritatively, was a threat to the white

What, from a classic Christian point of view, are Donald Trump’s compulsive vices?

I considered lots of words. I felt called to steer away from productivity, from the false illusion of self-control. What I might need is not

Attacks on scientific agencies and research universities have thrown US science into disarray. The effects will be long-lasting and detrimental to the role of the

Matthew’s infancy narrative suggests that in Jesus deep divisions can be mended. There is hope in Matthew’s message: that the unity of the church can

The Minnesota immigrant communities are making contributions that make our neighborhoods and our nation a better place. You could really benefit from meeting these Ethiopian

The warmth inside right now reminds me of the intimacy of “the second service,” or Sunday night worship, sixty years ago when I was a

“MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”

Today we’re going to take a look at The Best of 2025 in the Reformed Journal. There’s really no way, of course, to evaluate “best”

I told God quite vehemently that I was finished with him. If this was his idea of caring for his children, he was doing a

The first Christmas elapsed, and the ordinary rushed back to hide the miracle.

In a couple weeks, I’m presenting a paper at the American Society of Church History annual meeting in Chicago about Disney World–themed devotionals. Yes, you

Because the story of Jesus has become part of the cultural-holiday furniture, many don’t take Jesus any more seriously than Frosty or Rudolf.

Joseph is to name the child “Jesus.” Then we are told this child would be known as “Immanuel.” So which is it? Jesus or Immanuel?

Neuroscience offers the hope that the ability to wait can be strengthened through practice—especially the practice of Advent.

Dear Jesus,
In the beginning, you made us a little lower than the angels. But in the middle, you lowered yourself.

Sitting in a dark theater for a couple hours watching a movie that has nothing to do with our current troubles served as a welcome

There are many kinds of darkness, aren’t there? And still yet, many more ways of experiencing and perceiving the different kinds of darkness.

Pluribus is the most morally interesting show since Breaking Bad and its sequel Better Call Saul. What these shows have in common is Vince Gilligan,

We’re more comfortable with metaphor than miracle.

Assume the best in ourselves and in others and get curious. Aim to connect rather than convince!

It was around 1980 that Trisha Zinger and I starred in what had to have been the best children’s Christmas program of all time. While

Winter asks us to pause. Grief forces us to.

We tell the story sentimentally. And, sentimentally, we call you Prince of Peace. Sentimentally—even though you were born to a world that crucified you and

For seventeen centuries St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, Saint in Bari, has inspired people by his faith and generosity. Nicholas grew up during the late

I went inside and told the officer behind the window that I was lost. That was the first lie.

It’s in the darkness that Christ’s ambassadors should shine the brightest. And yet, similar to our church’s Christ candle when we forget to fill it

Our earliest understanding is a phenology. Days and seasons, stars and tides. Winter birds and warblers passing through. Green vestments becoming blue becoming white.

I spent a surprising amount of time in the principal’s office my senior year of high school.

You never do know how many monkey stories somebody has. It’s what I like about what we have going here at Reformed Journal: we’re a

When we learn about bones, we talk about the importance of tension or stress for bone health. Your bones remodel constantly in response to stress.

Last summer, I was asked to lead morning devotions at a gathering of RJ writers. Three biblical passages quickly came to mind.

Perhaps the urge to create one’s own storyline has been there from the beginning. When God asks Adam and Eve why they are hiding, they

A Prayer for the First Sunday of Advent Dear Jesus, Here we are again: counting down, lighting your birthday candles in slow motion, and watching

The Tokyo-based cultural historian W. David Marx recently published a new book titled Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century. In it, he

In a world threatened by drought, fire, and soil erosion both literal and metaphorical, we are working together here to create a healthier ecosystem of

We cover the gamut, from climate change to politics to piety to theology, and we do so because that’s what our founding editors did from

In writing for the Reformed Journal, many of my caves have become tunnels. As I read your stories and you read mine, I can breathe

Caitlin’s Osceola doesn’t look particularly Native: his nose is too long and thin, as is his face. Sitting Bull, in most portraits, looks like a

Around 360 CE, St. Ephrem, a Syrian theologian, wrote seven hymns based on his hands-on experience with a single pearl. The pearl speaks with a

There are elements of my view of the world that now differ from my parents’, but in my change and growth there are many family

There on this large kitchen table that at one time had seated them with all five of their children, were three simple bowls of home-made

“Keeping it real” touches on the truthful stories we share with each other, rather than the easy, gliding, predictable responses.

“Ha ha. Anyway, I’m OK. Actually, I’m in a better place now, you know? Having ‘Angel At Large’ status for a while isn’t so bad.”

I had loved the flower virtually for years, connecting it to my faith and my vocation. And here it was in real life. It was

There is nobility in studying Biology because it enables leadership and creativity needed for the stickiest questions humanity must face.

Rather than a dramatic epiphany, I’ve been reminded recently of the slow illumination at daybreak that gives you just enough light to make your way.

I asked myself if I would have made different decisions and taken different actions than those my parents took in moving us to the suburbs.

“Well Chad, I’ve never really thought about that before,” was the response to a question I asked the late and dear Chana Safrai during my

Fred made history when he disobeyed orders to report for detention because he believed his constitutional rights were being violated.

We pray for a time when peace will reign and swords become plowshares once more, that war be known only in history books.

Look at the phages of the soil. They neither invest in the stock market nor stock shelves in your grocery store, and yet your heavenly

Dexter, a Brittany Spaniel, is the bundle of canine joy who demonstrates a fullness of spirit that encourages my spirit. Dexter’s joy brings me joy.

What if accumulating unimaginable wealth is not a sign of success at all, but a symptom of profound inner emptiness? The billionaire’s crisis is not

It being the week before Halloween, I decided I’d find a copy of Frankenstein and give it a try. What I experienced was not some

I felt defensive because my 13-year-old son, who asks a million questions but also already has answers to every single one of them, said something

For as long as I can remember, I have been a knitter. My mother and grandmother taught me to knit, sitting next to me and patiently

I have not covered the faces of Jesus in my kids’ storybook Bibles with stickers, even though Calvin would certainly disapprove.

The quote is memorable. Some guy found himself in jail and offered these words: “Dude, this road we’re on — it’s the wrong one.”

My dear spouse would aim not only for the hoops, but for other players’ balls. He’d strategize how to knock out other players so that

Phrases from hymns and verses from scripture light up my brain. I feel a crazy love for the sunrise. I feel my mother’s presence with

Today I share some of my favorite photos from our walk to Santiago de Compostela, clustered around the words of the 23rd psalm.

Yesterday, I began teaching Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone in an introductory literature course. If you’re expecting Thanksgiving dinner at your house will be war, I told

Last week I had the opportunity to speak on a faculty panel to our university’s Board of Trustees. Our topic: shared governance. Perhaps your eyes

“The whole human race, without exception, are to be embraced with one feel of charity.”

“Grandma, you know I love math and numbers. I like proofs and formulas and statistics. That does not fit with faith. It isn’t necessary and

Kids come to us, asking us for good things. And when we give it to them, we remember how it feels to give good things

I was right on top of her, taking down the platform feeder, when I finally noticed the tiny chickadee struggling frantically. She was caught in

I was taking the energy that was once obsessed over my own slop of anger, burnout, and shame and instead, now putting it into my

I lived here for three winters, in a fish-camp cabin which sounds more romantic than it should. A humble tiny drafty old house near the

Some used to wonder if Arminians would be in heaven. Now we have to wonder about other species!

If Christianity truly offers a vision of the good life, to what extent should the civil government seek to enforce that good life?

I feel strongly that it’s disingenuous for churches to make their beliefs hard to find. It comes across as preying on vulnerable people.

Tools, like Evo are important steps toward AI-designed drugs, gene therapy, and anti-bacterial treatments for use in agriculture and medicine.

Scholars do not agree fully , but it is fair to say that the majority suggest that the Jericho story might have developed from local

Maybe you are concerned that Calvin’s emphasis on the spiritual kingship is going to leave this world dangerously neglected. Nonetheless, Calvin sees substantial implications for

What is the value of words? When truth is being silenced, words matter. When people in power punish those who make jokes or speak criticism,

God is the first one in the story who sees and names Hagar, as if to say, “Though others refuse to see you, Hagar, I

In this story, I think hard about the thoughts and feelings of worms. I push it too far. More practically, I also try to help

Faith & Formation This year, I’ve started adjunct-teaching a class at Palm Beach Atlantic University, here in West Palm Beach, called Christian Faith & Formation.

On September 11, 2025, the day after the Charlie Kirk assassination, I journaled about my intention to stay off social media as much as possible. The

Trump’s second term has included numerous orders threatening or nullifying advances of the Disability Rights Movement that have taken decades to achieve.

Over the next four Tuesdays, I will explore a few themes of Calvin that I think have resonance for Neo-Calvinist and Reformed communities today.

Job’s response is so fitting. “You have spoken of things too wonderful for me. I put my hand over my mouth.”

Right on cue came the well-choreographed public dismay, along with one of the most well-rehearsed lines in our grotesque public liturgy: “This is not who

I tend to call them campers. People without a home care more about finding a place to rest than what we call them.

Professional research seems to favor technological solutions over behavioral (spiritual??) changes that may emerge as imperatives.

As has become my custom, I’m so grateful to be able to share another profound prayer by my friend and colleague, Jane Zwart, which she

It feels like too much. People with power and authority keep adding fuel to the fire rather than put the fire out. I won’t pretend

For many of us, an astonishing number of these classes were with Seerveld. The student body was small, but so was the faculty, which meant

Capon argues that God uses the left-handed power of love and sacrifice over the right-handed power of coercion. Repeatedly, Capon finds Jesus on the side

If we think of the church as a garden—or maybe a vineyard, to be more in keeping with Jesus’ kingdom parables—that would suggest that we

By today’s standards, there was good reason to believe it wasn’t starry-eyed love that brought them together or kept them blessedly close. There is no

For me, this is end-of-day music, music for lawn mowing before sundown, or washing the last of the dishes, or logging back online after the

There is plenty of positive and triumphalist thinking in the Christian tradition. But there is also this: a willingness to look directly at suffering, to

But some of the waste that I have to contend with can’t get heaved into a truck and become someone else’s problem. There are more

What concerns me even more is the presence of armed military members patrolling streets inside the United States. I have lived in countries that were

Capon’s next interpretive move catches me off guard: “As far as I am concerned, therefore, the unjust steward is nothing less than the Christ-figure in

Did Jesus enjoy performing miracles?  Although I am 61 years old and have been through seminary and have been ordained for 35 years next month,

Ferber purportedly took inspiration for her heroine from the real-life Antje Paarlberg of South Holland (“Low Prairie”), Illinois, but So Big’s pictureof Dutch-American culture and

Our problems begin when we see those outside our own groups as the “other.” Too often, we leave empathy at the door and see the

I sense this demand for perfect victims is an unwanted gift from Christianity to the wider culture. The church teaches that Jesus is sinless, a

Most things we hear or read stay with us for a moment or two, but some words and phrases and clauses stay with us for

They don’t see church as a value-added to their lives. Their first thoughts are of obligations, constraints, conflict. More in their already hectic schedule.

Last week, I visited the September 11th Memorial in lower Manhattan, looking for a specific name etched in the plaque memorializing those killed that awful

They said they cannot be a part of a church that aligns itself with Israel, a country openly committing genocide in Gaza. They don’t want

Editors Note: This is the first of three responses to Roger Nelson’s post yesterday on adult children and faith. A number of years ago I

I don’t know how to get our children to church, but I know that some sustaining strength is slipping away.

It was a good conversation, but it ended with him saying these words: “I know what Jesus says is the truth, and as a pastor

The sidewalk in front of me proclaims in boldly chalked letters: DON’T STOPPRAYING And right after that: GODHEARS US With my dog, I have walked

My hand on my heart is a sign I make in honor of those who died in those places. To remind myself that they were

The possibility of repair means that you can experiment and fail. It means you can try things out, even if you know you won’t be

Two decades later, I still work in education, but instead of a classroom teacher, my primary responsibility is to work side-by-side with educators who care

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

All I kept seeing was the picture of the mom in Minneapolis running barefoot toward her child’s school — shoes in hand, no doubt fear

What if, as biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann suggests, the primary category for understanding the character of God is not transcendence or omnipotence, but covenant relationship?

We can attempt to answer that question any number of ways, but sociology can offer some helpful insights. I read Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith’s

If you’re wondering if you should congratulate this person or wish that person a happy birthday—if it’s been too long and it would be too

I tell my epiphany, how these trees rewired me. I thought I knew Michigan forests. On a whim, I jumped off I-75 one spring day

Next Wednesday morning, I’ll be hitting a career milestone: the start of my 35th year of teaching. Perhaps more amazingly (to me anyway) is that it’s

Beyond questions of historical accuracy, the narrative seems to offer up an elusive promise of linear progress. The ride cars climb up higher and higher,

At the center of an economy of neighborliness is not frenzy, fatigue, and fear, but gratitude, rest, and trust, attitudes and postures that are cultivated

This pressure to constantly monitor their behavior and die to self meant many of them dealt with internalized shame.

Those fleeing the disappointments of church in our time and seeking refuge in the warm circle of Jesus-lovers might want to consider the limitations manifested

One expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations said, “I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years

These parents deeply loved God and their children. Second, sincerity can’t overcome a poor hermeneutic.

I am often mute in the face of injustice, unwilling to risk my relative comfort in the face of fear and chaos. After all, going

Lament arises from the disorientation we experience in the face of suffering and grief, wondering why God has not acted on our behalf.

I see you.One day, when I was having a very bad day, I was sitting at a stoplight feeling either bad about myself or bad

This piece is excerpted and adapted from Jared Ayers’ forthcoming book, You Can Trust A God With Scars, available from NavPress on September 9.

Seventeen years had passed since our last vacation to Au Train, a small town just 20 minutes from the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Our Mennonite friends came from several ethnic backgrounds — Swiss-German, Low German, Russian — with histories of persecution and emigration to Pennsylvania, Virginia, Canadian prairie

One chief wanted to go home to where his ancestors were buried and was willing to die to make it happen. The other didn’t want

The exercise of finding hope in my present experience of God feels like an intellectual exercise. I know that God is with me and sustaining

Brueggemann regularly alludes to this counter world, this alternative frame of reference that Scripture invites us to inhabit.

We were about to start a two-week stay in Star Valley Ranch, Wyoming. Mountain hospitality–what a gift!

Sometimes we need to leave the broken pieces behind.

I thought I could have answered the “why are you Reformed?” question with ease. But in reality, spewing information is nothing like knowing what my

A good photograph, as Journey’s grandmother puts it, “Stops a little piece of time, good or bad, and saves it.”

On the lower plateau, a couple had staked their tent, a hundred yards away. They were set apart. Affixed to their tent was a big

My hope, in this series of blogposts, is not only to honor Brueggemann’s legacy, but also, using Brueggemann’s work, to brainstorm together what we as

One way or another, probably all of us are pondering the possibility of hope these days. Some days we “feel” hope, some days we “do”

An old proverb says, “When the map and the terrain differ, the terrain is always right.”

For most of July, I was on an extended trip to England: partly for research, partly for vacation, and partly to prepare for my fall

Plenty of very smart people have spent significant brain power parsing out the difference between “things” and “stuff”– and the more you dig, the more

It’s not just the words that we sing, it’s the very fact that this is how we choose to engage our faith and our world–in

The aim of rhetoric of traditional ideas of gender and femininity, framed as if it’s caring for women’s overall well-being, is to control them..

Schuller’s land of Oz turned out to be Orange County, California, and there he did not find but built his Emerald City.

The gap cannot be explained by boys being inherently better at math than girls. Numerous studies show that males and females perform similarly in math

I wonder about this precious time together. I suspect that we could be doing something more.

“Maybe you can tell me if a box of material I found in the attic belongs to your family. I was about to take it

As the person bearing the letter we now call the book of Romans, it would have been Phoebe who first read, explained, taught, and answered

Pillars of light guide you,
and waves part.

In events around the country, she hopes to shore up Christians in mostly Red states who are shaken by the rise of the idolatry of

I think churches—not just big box churches, but all churches—have something to learn from trampoline parks.

They just keep singing. In the midst of the shock and devastation, their voices find each other, and they find the songs that they know.

Disillusionment is defined as the state of being freed from an illusion or false belief. It can be a letting go, rather than a disappointment.

That mean streak, as Manfred himself knew, is never quite as proud as when it can hang on some doctrinal principle that legitimizes its existence.

We thought it would never happen here, but now it is. This is not the way life is supposed to be. Deep down we know

A spring evening, it began to rain. It was the soft rain that lulls one to sleep at night, the kind of rain that reminds

We are becoming merely homo phagon—humans who consume, from the Greek phago, to devour. We are all mouth.

“Daddy, are we Christian because you and mommy are Christian? If you were Muslim, would we be Muslim?”

Did young Christians in the 1980s marry early because they wanted to have sex within the bounds of marriage? Absolutely!

A heart became available, and a 10-hour transplant surgery began on Memorial Day evening. A month in the hospital following a heart transplant is standard,

We had immigrated to Canada when I took a call to a Reformed Church in America congregation in Ontario.

Fredrick reflects on the changes he witnessed from the Iowa of his childhood to Iowa now with its massive industrial farms, gutted small towns, and

From this saga we can glean hope’s core ingredient. There are the predictable humility and gratitude but also the less predictable humor, play, and joy.

My Dear Siblings in Christ in the Christian Reformed Church and Reformed Church in America,  Please do your best to keep an open mind and

One goal is to find phages that will clear antibiotic resistant tuberculosis infections and infections that plague people who get a lung transplant.

Escape is a luxury of privilege. Removing ourselves from the pain of the world, whether it includes expensive getaways or the simplicity of a tent,

There were words of conviction and question, quivering lips, and expressions of affection. There was sadness and befuddlement.

I fear fading away in a hallucinatory haze, diapered, positioned daily in front of a screen displaying an endless stream of Hallmark movies

Because of my travel schedule, I’ve been away from Reformed Journal quite a bit over this first half of 2025. I’m so glad for people

Calling my dad a real estate developer is a bit misleading. A typical “development” for my dad was finding an old block of real estate

One summer years ago, I shocked my son by saying, as I began sorting through stuff that I thought we needed to have a garage

I’m wondering how or if we can hold on to something like Michelle Obama’s hopeful call while also engaging with a vile man doing all

A sermon is invariably made better by telling stories, but a story is never made better when it sermonizes.

When my writing crosses the line into sentimentality, I am taking more than half, by which I mean that I am doing my own emotional

The books, the board games, the educational toys, the movies, the building blocks, the pots and pans, the guitars, and even the seeds for planting

Popular film after film in the early 2000s had the same premise: young men behaving poorly, but claimed as lovable and good if they managed

Those who limit Easter to the bodily appearances of Jesus slight this promise of Jesus: “I will appear to them.” In worship, we should expect

Of course, things could be worse. You could find yourself in a frightening blank nothingness in which you can’t find any WiFi. You might have

You and I both know it’s not good to call Jesus “Lord, Lord” if we don’t do what he says .

The view is limited from the seat of a kayak. This lovely little river winds through a flood plain of Midwestern forests and forest openings

I spent a lot of time inside–just observing, noticing, and being with my baby. Some days were beautiful,. Some days were tough.

People have asked about what I’m doing. Here are a couple things I’ve become involved with. First, I add my obligatory Reformed-humility caveat. Of course

Well-rehearsed when I walked on to the stage, as my mother had instructed, I summoned up my biggest voice and announced, sans microphone, my welcome

Levings’ and Lenz’s memoirs trace the way both women were drawn into high-control, conservative Christian groups, trapped in patriarchal marriages, and ultimately made their escapes.

My correspondents admire what I call the triple-S complex in Christian Reformed collective character: sacrificial, sober, and stalwart. But they also see a negative obverse

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

While there is something noble and beneficial about looking back, the best way to remember the sacrifices of the past would be to change our

I had a brief, tense interaction with my manager. She stormed out of the meeting, so I figured we would work it out when we

How is the risen Lord present to us and how not? And what are the relevance of those two realities? Resurrection questions.

The more of your personality, humor, and stories you put in, the more it feels like the response to the sermon is a referendum on

They blustered, argued, and cursed the confines they felt, but there was real energy to it. They had something to push against.

Protecting the most vulnerable species from the finality of extinction has a unique gravity that is poorly addressed in regulatory language.

The tomatoes were eaten by some kind of worm or bug, and the corn leaned over like a half-hearted question mark.

We’ve seen it before. And we’re seeing it again — hatred wrapped in the veneer of faith and flag.

I used to be quite proficient in physics – not so much anymore. It turns out that it’s one of those subjects that only sits

John 13:31-35 “Joy” may be too big a word. Joy tends to put pressure on us. Consider what happens to many people at Christmas. Perhaps

Scientific journals have reestablished what healers and spiritual teachers have known for centuries: that being in the presence of plant life helps humans thrive.

Life change, if it happens, usually occurs when we’re lost or disoriented or sick or somehow dependent on the kindness of people who don’t look

My deconstruction journey began in my freshman year of college. My zoology professor delivered a series of lectures on evolution. I was mesmerized. Maybe I

Like a third dimension in a two-dimensional world, those who know only two-dimensional space will find this new dimension utterly puzzling and counter-intuitive.

Even if we build various systems and institutions to help us do that lamb-feeding work, every day is still, in essence, an exercise in coming

While preparing for our family travel and rest in June and July, I’ll assemble my “summer stack”– the books I’ll read my way through over

Nearly every culture that lives with cranes considers them sacred, and maybe it’s not too late for ours.

One of the many hats I get to wear in my professional life (and, I might add, perhaps the most stylish of them) is as

The language implies that we naturally identify the Kingdom with what we are building or organizing or working on.

Failure is written all over this story, Peter’s failures, the church’s failure, your failures and mine. But Jesus is not done with them

A few weeks ago, we made the trip to New York to see Maybe Happy Ending, a new musical that opened on Broadway last year.

Hi Ron: I’m glad to have you for my ideal reader because the stuff I’m discussing in this series can get very heavy and abstract.

Positive freedom works to create something. It aims to build a society where all flourish.

Dire wolves roamed the Americas during the last ice age but went extinct more than 10,000 years ago

We are the creatures who breathe God. To be human is to breathe God.

Domination and destruction are easy and cruel. Serving, building, creating: that takes humility, which is true strength. So how can we provide a counter-narrative in

Even the best magicians need pipsqueaks to make things right.

Since every player performs differently in each game, the final score is always the outcome of their intermixing contributions at that one moment in time.

“You might think you’re hot snot on a silver platter,
but you’re really just cold boogers on a paper plate.”

A cup of tea and good conversation with Julia Child back in 1966 gave my early career a boost.

I spend the earliest morning shift willing myself to stay alert, tracing the endless yellow lines that slice through the dark, and praying for the

The New Testament on resurrection is multiple, layered, giving us first one perspective and then another.

Lately, my waking has been difficult. The world has changed. I thought I would always feel safe, free, and cared for in Canada, my country.

What if we took our richest theological gains and counted them but loss? What if we let the vastness of the moment pour contempt on

After such a majestic buildup, what would we expect to come next? An action of some glory and power worthy of Christ’s universal sovereignty, of

Uncovering hidden Christs in rests, like they were Easter tombs.

As a Pilate disliker, I always resented his presence in the creeds. He felt like such an inappropriate presence, a festering sliver, an interloper.

When I was in graduate school, I wanted to try something new, so I joined a local roller derby team. I loved the opportunity to

It’s here we reach the pinnacle of Christian doctrine and a hornet’s nest of intra-Christian disputes

Illegal crossings peaked in the first Trump administration and again early in Biden’s term, but the numbers have been declining since 2023 and are now

Many struggle with its final petition: “Lead us not into temptation,” in the King’s English. Does God tempt people into sinning?

A friend asked me weeks ago now, “what can we do?” and I put him off, promising I’d think about it and write something. But

Because I moved so often as a child–nine places but thirteen residences–I’m apt to say I’m not really “from” anywhere. But that’s probably not totally

I have spent a lifetime metabolizing split allegiances and belonging to different tribes.

It is not surprising that Jesus should speak of laughter and rejoicing as the proper response to his announcement of reversals at hand with the

I almost feel like if I step away or put a limit on how much news I consume each day–I’m somehow doing something wrong.

It’s wrong to dismiss “baggage” as a bad thing. It can also refer to some precious cargo that we can contribute to enrich our new

I’m sorry I don’t remember your name, but I remember your voice and your words. I’m sorry I didn’t speak up in that moment and

Sure, being vaccinated benefits us. It greatly reduces the chances that we experience severe illnesses. But, being vaccinated also benefits our neighbors.

Whether it be Crossfit or the church, the interest in each seems to be waning. People have less of a connection to Crossfit, but they

Live-streaming is giving way to social media strategy, communication coordination, branding, and more.

I suspect I’m not the only person who, in the face of our nation’s recent authoritarian turn, is struggling to define a posture between outrage

This is the commemorative hundredth-anniversary book for Alpine Avenue Christian Reformed Church, the church in which I grew up. The anniversary occurred in 1981 when

Music’s power to connect and reconcile, like that of language, is not automatic; it has to be built.

March 15 was the day the Wisconsin State Climatology Office declared as the official thaw date.

I’m writing this on Tuesday, March 25—a fascinating confluence of a day because it’s Flannery O’Connor’s 100thbirthday, it’s Dante Day in Florence (because it’s the

When I think of what the “church growth movement” gave me, my answers would be anxiety, shame, fear of failure, resentment, and a few other

Paul did not include the words “comfy” or “detached” in his list. Sometimes the most true thing to acknowledge is that we are worried. Sometimes

Soon enough your life is colored by battles you never signed up for and obligations that you wouldn’t have chosen for yourself.

Although we played by the rules and didn’t do anything wrong, there is no longer a place for us in the Christian Reformed Church.

Spiegel im Spiegel – German for “Mirrors in the mirror.” An infinity of mirror images repeating themselves. Have you stood in the space between the

If you, like me, have ever struggled with a stammer or stutter, you know the awkward pause—that moment of silence when a word gets stuck

A work of art is an invitation to the interior. It’s an invitation to stop for a moment and adjust our vision. It’s a reminder

I kept finding myself drawn back in time to these Christian saints living before our modern categories of chronic illness and disability.

Duke Divinity School Professor Richard Lischer once wrote: “Vocation puts an end to you in order to disclose your true end.”  These words give me

I remember sitting with my parents in the doctor’s office the day we heard the final diagnosis. “It’s not good,” was all the doctor could

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” I believe I have reached the age where I start to

Ruth gives her life for her mother-in-law Naomi to have a chance at a new life. In this way, Ruth’s story foreshadows great David’s greater

I’m here again because I’ve been coming to places like this since I was a boy and I still carry the things I’ve found.

A few years back, on the first Sunday of Lent, I presided over the baptism of a 7-year-old child. The congregation was between pastors, and

I’m a little late to it–as usual with my television viewing habits (I’m more of a reader and when I do watch TV, I have

It’s a mystery to me because flossing is a fastidious act. For a flosser to flick a stick and leave it as litter–that’s not fastidious.

The cuts to science risk the health and safety of Americans and people around the world—especially the marginalized and underrepresented.

In I Kings 22, the king of Israel and the king of Judah were wondering if they should go into battle against the Arameans. The

While undergoing the stem cell transplant process, all I could do was pray, “Ugh.”

Cooper’s conception of Christianity was not a set of theological propositions meant for discussion. “Religion must be life made true.”

Spring is coming. Spring will arrive. One terrible moment is not the center of everything. Nor is it the end of everything.

Our churches defined themselves by publicly confessing—especially to princes—their common beliefs on issues in conflict.

My parents sacrificed to show my two siblings and me the astonishing riches of the United States as protected by the National Park Service. We

Your child’s unique quirks and perspectives can teach profound lessons about patience, compassion, and unconditional love.

In our transgender friends, there is something more, something surprising to many, but that has been there all along, and is an essential part of

Brandi Carlile, performing at Red Rocks Amphitheatre with the Colorado Symphony. Two bucket list items in one. I had to go.

The swollen sun faithfully wakes. The dawn whispers of her constancy and renewal. Every day she rises, and her watery warmth spills across the surface

Each person is a person, capable of both good and evil – which is humbling to think about as we look at our own lives

Dylan is on the charts again for the movie A Complete Unknown which covers the period when he went from a complete unknown to a

On January 15, 2025, the ICS Board of Trustees voted to discontinue ICS’s status as a Denominationally-Related Educational Institution of the CRCNA.

Mary Oliver was simply showing us what she saw, rarely venturing beyond her own backyard.

Beginning with the earliest recorded film, I’m going to watch one film from every year up to the present.

The language restrictions imposed on CDC research and reporting take the question of language censorship to a new level as well.

Consider the power of a word. Let there be. A word speaks the world into being, igniting evolution and the churning of the existence of

Come to think of it, Miss P proposes instead that Canada take over the US. All the US states could become nice Canadian provinces, and

The decision has been made to stop the work of USAID for 90 days. That’s what’s haunting me, keeping sleep from my eyes.

Picture this scene. It’s the late 1980s. My wife and I are co-pastoring a small church in a rural hamlet in upstate New York. We

I imagined that mom and dad gathering their children in their camp in Pakistan. “It is time. We are going to Iowa.”

You cannot understand properly the final challenging things Bishop Budde said directly to the President without hearing the whole sermon.

Who am I when I cannot manage the small details of life? Where are my car keys? The grocery list?

There is divine mystery woven into the fabric of human existence:

Does the religious landscape point to secularization or to the growing influence of religion or something in between?

As I thought about the life span of the couches of decades past, I considered that this upcoming couch might be the second to last

Biological truth is that sex determination is a complicated developmental process, controlled by many genes

Then, he cried with me. There were few words exchanged, but I don’t remember any of them. But I do remember him just sitting with

What would it mean to have the meanest man in the world, a person hostile to causes that you were deeply committed to, as a

I invite you to take a few moments to enter a time of meditation and contemplation.

The news media reports on all this, of course, so our little brains are filled with the ugliest discourse-sludge. Here’s my point: the discourse itself

The Wicked movie awakened a force inside me that I had almost forgotten. I was suddenly awake to its symbolism and deeper messages. How did

This is the dilemma of the herbivore in winter–the urgency of needing calories when the calories are most scarce.

I had always found baseball the most boring of sports, but early 1990s baseball in Seattle–the era of Ken Griffey, Jr, Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson–made

Meanwhile, to the North, in that other democracy, the Prime Minister has resigned, effective soon. Not a good time, because Canada is at war —

I loved science fair projects when I was a kid. Everything about them was appealing.

We were able to track down several close relatives of our church members. They were overjoyed to receive recent pictures of their loved ones.

Heraldo’s parents and two-year-old brother had arrived in Nogales, Sonora, a few days earlier, two months after fleeing their village in Venezuela.

If really want to embrace the upside economy of the Kingdom of God, how might I surrender the kind of self-importance that believes I can

How often has any of us heard someone, bemused, say aloud, “I didn’t know I had it in me.”

I think she knew that it was safe enough to die.

It is illegal, now, but historically, blood sports were very popular. By definition, blood sports include activities that inflict serious injuries, pain, or death as

A newly-arrived family from Burundi came to church: two parents and nine children, fresh from a refugee camp in Tanzania.

What I appreciate most about some “proof-texting” is that it helps me to see what biblical texts moved someone to think this way or that.

Chesterton loved Christmas, returning in his essays, poems, and books to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, again and again.

This was not a conversation in which Jesus is trying to trick someone into confessing or to come out on top or to shame someone.

I’m only just now taking down my Christmas decorations (and full disclosure: the tree is still left). I’ve come to believe I have until Epiphany,

I don’t remember enough geometry to know if Venn diagrams and tangents are connected in any formal way.

As a pastor, this presidential situation affects my work more than you might imagine.

Deep in the heart of U.S. evangelicalism is the belief that if we did a better job at apologetics, a better job of showing that

The contrast this week has been striking. The solemn ceremonies and tearful farewells for ex-President Jimmy Carter over against the threats, bombast, and bloviations from

One of my favorites, a tufted titmouse, is at the feeder.

Take a look at some of the important, exciting, and/or weird advances in biology over the last year.

Lions fans have suffered for a lifetime, and now they have found hope.

It has taken me time to remember I have two ears to listen, and just one mouth. My daughter asked me what the word “verbose”

l was overcome with love for my beautiful, quirky congregation— a small, urban, blue-collar Presbyterian church in south Seattle.

One realtor suggests there are something like 1100 former churches for sale in the U.S.

Editor’s Note: Jim Schaap, long a fixture here on the Reformed Journal blog, has been absent recently. First, a cataclysmic flood last June, followed by

The Grand Calumet River is likely the most polluted river in the Great Lakes watershed, maybe in all of North America.

I’m not really given to resolutions. Statistically, they don’t really work, so there’s the pragmatic objection. But more than that, I object as well to

Can I get someone to second my motion to make 2024 an annus horribilis?

It was tough. We had to leave out a lot. But here’s some that you may want to re-read, or if you missed them the

We follow the well-trodden paths of our traditions – candlelight services and caroling, Luke 2 and presents under the tree, Christmas movies and gingerbread houses.

I need a nudge to a path that is muddier—but also wider and steadier—than the precarious tightrope of this world’s version of Christmas cheer.

Listen to a Christmas story podcast, written and read by James C. Schaap. The youngest shepherd must stay with the sheep as the others go

I remember my cousins. There were so many of us. Most of them I would only see this one day of the year.

Listen to a Christmas story podcast, written and read by James C. Schaap. A recently widowed grandmother visits her daughter’s family for the holidays.

My eyes were taking it in, but my brain was utterly undone by something I had no real context for.

Listen to a Christmas story podcast, written and read by James C. Schaap. An arrogant artist agrees to narrate the church’s Christmas program.

When was the last time you experienced wonder in a church sanctuary? I can remember one of the first times I experienced wonder in a

A Christmas story podcast, written and read by James C. Schaap.

I wonder what needs a controlled burn in our culture right now, in our churches?

Tomorrow evening is the longest night of the year, the winter solstice.

I can only see 100 yards or so into the fog and it consumes me, envelopes, covers, holds, me.

Busy. Stressed. Overwhelmed. What’s your synonym for December? For even the most mindful among us, this month is just filled with A LOT. Many good

I want to share some thoughts about what we need from the church now, looking to the Psalmist for guidance.

Wonder occurs when we encounter something we have not encountered before, that is to say, something that is new.

I get teary-eyed almost every viewing when Clarence leaves the message to George Bailey, “Remember no man is a failure who has friends.”

For Advent I decided to read through Dante’s Divine Comedy. All of it. I’ve tried twice before.

I tend to get up when it starts getting light anyway. This Sunday, in that extra time, I found myself cleaning up the contact list

The God, who sees us at our best and worst, looks at us with favor.

As was our custom, we spent a few nights in a little village in the Alps, my father’s ancestral village.

Wonder calls us out of our self-contained and self-prescribed lives and invites us to live in someone else’s world.

Might backpacking become a spiritual discipline for our times?

Over the last few months I’ve been sitting with the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a guidepost in this season of life.

For most of the seniors, the threat to their well being isn’t an accident or health, it’s loneliness.

Conversations occur in the context of a community, one’s colleagues, students, family members – and other interested people.

Imagination opens our eyes to God, teaches us to attend to the world God has made, enables us to experience the holy mysteries of God’s

We, too, are labor-intensive: much time and attention are needed to produce writing for a blog and a journal, for book reviews and a poetry

The Reformed Journal’s example offered hope that we could honor our perceptions of a troubling world without sacrificing our love of a faith that was

I’ll always take a peek inside our neighborhood little libraries when I pass them by.

I love to see the saints, behaving decently. They don’t usually make headlines or go viral, and they would be uncomfortable with the attention. They

My experience as an RJ writer and reader is that even though we’re a small operation, you’ll find yourself invited into a surprisingly big tent.

Advent is a season of wonder, a season of re-enchantenment, a time where the roof is retracted and our lives and the world are open

I’m thankful for this space to think, talk, dialogue, and reflect.

Gopher magic has to do with creating the conditions by which the very foundation of life could repair itself

What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb but the darkness of the womb?

I am proud of my miserliness, proud that my coveralls are older than my adult kids, proud that I remember when fieldwork was familiar and

This autumn, I seem to have noticed the change after daylight savings time more than normal. It just seems darker most nights as I leave

It is the unvarnished dismissal of ideals like human equality, decency, peace, and respect for life.

God is not found in the soul by adding anything but by subtracting. – Meister Eckhart This summer my wife Tammy and I spent a

This idea of hope goes beyond “thoughts and prayers” to action

I was recently given some cash and encouraged to give part of it, a $50 bill, away as an act of thanksgiving. Naturally, the first

What if the way we would want to be loved differs from the way the person we are trying to love wants to be loved?

it’s a bit of a paradox that the very white space that lures many middle-grade readers into a verse novel allows them to read faster

I can’t help but ask, is thinking about wonder a luxury in a world that is burning?

As I’m training to be a historian of American religion, I’ve been thinking a lot about what history can and can’t do for us.

I have to admit I don’t remember a lot about the 1984 movie “Places in the Heart.”

To feel at home, one needs to feel emotionally, physically, and spiritually safe.

The wan plea Why can’t we all just get along? seems trivial and stupid, but it’s actually a good question, one humans have been asking

I have done a lot of different things in my nearly twenty-one years as pastor of this church, but valet parking cars on the morning

A community gives you the energy to come out of your echo chamber or silo or isolation, or whatever image you prefer.

In the world I have known, poetry is appreciated, disparaged, or ignored—not necessarily in that particular order. I’d like to weigh in on the side

I’ve long lived out on the edges of certainty. And yet the Reformed community welcomed and made space for me.

Simone Weil saw attention as being fully present with a mystery and yet resisting the urge to solve it.

I’m not okay. And I’m giving myself permission not to be okay.

I decided to use this week to set some firm boundaries around my news consumption and take extra good care of myself.

Wisdom is absent from Reformed theology. We don’t talk about it. I wonder why.

I want to use my anger to fight back. I want my anger to move me into action.

The Barista, still with grace-filled eyes, responded: “You are welcome here as long as you need.”

The vote ended in a tie: 48 to 48. The House voted to table for now. Initially the twenty-four year old Harry Thomas Burn had

Her goal is to equip sympathetic readers with appropriate, fact-based rhetorical strategies in order to counter deceptive rhetoric, especially the subtle kind that sounds sensible

The Netflix show Derry Girls has been on my mind a lot during this stomach-churning election season. I’ll try to explain why. Set in Derry,

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday! Christmas never felt quite as happy to me. It always felt complicated, like I was supposed to feel

Decades ago, my friend and his wife visited their pastor wondering why his sermons seemed to be so complicated and vague. At some point in

My primary orientation is toward the past. I learned this when a friend and fellow enneagram-enthusiast told me that different numbers on the enneagram have

“There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one

I love Jesus so much I am afraid to talk about him. Jesus loves me so much he does not stop talking to me, not

It’s hard not to notice all the reboots in our popular culture. Sequels, prequels, origin stories, and updates to books, films, adaptations, musicals and music

I am writing this at midnight on my 29th birthday. October always stirs up bittersweetness for me. I grieve for the end of warm days

TuesdayIt’s an ordinary Tuesday (this past one, in fact), and spouse Ron and I both get a text from the Harris-Walz campaign inviting us to

As I take in news reports about fearful immigrants in my community and around the country, I wonder how many of us know our own

So. What’ll it be today? Rage or despair? Or can I manage to set them aside for a while? At least enough to get my

The pilgrimage routes that everyone knows are those leading to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, from starting points across Europe.  Several Reformed

I turned thirty this summer, and when people asked me what I was excited for this decade, I kept responding, “I’m excited to stop packing

She sent me a picture of two little cartoon mice snuggled by a fireplace with the caption “born to hang out every day, forced to

Out of curiosity and a little bit of nostalgia, I listened to the audiobook of Beth Moore’s memoir, All My Knotted Up Life, (read by

A few weeks ago in this space, Daniel Meeter asked whether there was room for Kuyperians in the Reformed Church in America. His answer was

I was holding my brother’s hand as he lay dying in the memory care facility. As I glanced over my right shoulder, the display on

What Else Is There to Say?  What else is there to say?  That’s what I’m stuck on. I’m going to be preaching Jesus’ “Parable of

A while back I was watching the Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert film with my eight-year-old son. We were both enjoying the incredible display of

We had become good friends and loved to talk and argue about lots of ideas, including politics, ethics, and morality. But I noticed he sidestepped

Part of my work as a hospital chaplain is leading spirituality groups on the behavioral health units.  A theme we regularly discuss in these groups

Here at the RJ, we are eager to support the work of our colleagues, so a few of us will be writing about the newly

There are times when I find it difficult to pray. I come to terms with that (and then inevitably fall out-of-terms again) most meaningfully when

Sunday morning’s sermon centered a theme of showing God’s love in the world. It frequently does, this being a favorite topic of Pastor Karen –

A bicycle is for riding, not for flood measurement. But the bike parked on a street in Waynesville, North Carolina, on Sunday, September 29, showed by

The last time I posted here, I shared my review of Pulitzer-prizewinning journalist Eliza Griswold’s recent book, Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power,

The war in Ukraine has ground on for nearly three years now. Painful reports persist of the continuing loss of life. “Meat grinders” is the

Dear Reader,On August 14 of this year, my wife Tammy and I celebrated twenty-five years of marriage. I can hardly believe it’s been a quarter

“Return” by Anya Krugovoy Silver When he returned home after many years,an enormous oak had split his house in two,its trunk growing right through the

After considering it for several years, I finally decided a few weeks ago to join the choir at our church. In high school and college,

There are very few academic quotes that I think about regularly—sorry, professors. However, there’s one that almost haunts me. It comes from Hans Urs von

Just over ten years ago I was ordained as a Minister of the Word in the Christian Reformed Church. In so many ways, including denominationally,

It’s been an eventful few months in the Christian Reformed Church. Big and consequential things are happening, but that’s not why I’m writing. Another unfolding

My brother and I grew up in a small house with four adults–two parents, two grandparents, all of whom had things to say. All of

The two pencil sharpeners were identical, both blue with white plastic covers. They fit the hand of a second grader perfectly.  Unfortunately, these little sharpeners

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

On a crisp morning Blue, our Shetland sheepdog, began his daily pacing, dog language for, “Put on my leash and take me for a walk.”

“You need to work on your identity crisis at a different institution.” With those words Dean Boender sent me packing.  It was 1979, I was

Once more, it’s that time. My collection of observations, oddities, and other tidbits. If one doesn’t do much for you, maybe the next one will. 

Today I won’t pretend to understandthe ways we care for one another.Today I will simply standin these thick woods and lovehow the branches of one

Amidst my summer binge read of thrillers, rom-coms, and celebrity memoirs, I managed to add a few more serious books into the mix. Read a

Various Christian Reformed congregations are beginning their forced march toward denominational disaffiliation, and various individuals find themselves on the way out of a job or

Calcified I recently listened to an interview with political scientist and UCLA professor Lynn Vavreck. In it, she described the demographic trends she’s noticed as

I joked with a friend that my favorite contemplative readings have trended lately toward reflective white octogenarians.  I’m 32, white, serve in a majority Black

When it comes to parenting, our current society has much to say. There are loads of parenting podcasts, manuals, books, explanations, discussions. Parenting is serious,

Heretic martyr, chained to the stake, Jan Hus sangand prayed while a hooded executioner held a torchto the dry sticks that pricked his feetand a

I often make vague pronouncements these days along the lines of “we live in a time of enormous upheaval.” I’m aware when I say this

August 22, 2024 Dear Michael, Greta, and the rest of my fellow Council of Delegates members, It is with deep sadness that I write to

Monday morning with no obligations claims the gift it is. I got up old-man early anyway. Such is the power of habit, and circadian rhythms,

Reading Pulitzer Prize winner Eliza Griswold’s new book, Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church (just out from Farrar, Straus

Pastoral burnout is hardly breaking news. For years I’ve seen all sorts of troubling data about the high percentage of ministers stepping away from their

My husband told me that he heard you should never be the one to end a hug with your child. Always let them release the

Tomorrow morning, my husband and I will be helping our oldest daughter move into her dorm room at Queen’s University here in Kingston, Ontario. It

I grew up playing all kinds of quirky games to pass the time on family road trips. One that was almost certainly unique to our

Sometimes we lose. We lose loved ones. We lose jobs. We lose health. We lose dreams. We lose the religious tradition, denomination, or church we

“I hate the church.” His words were harsh and almost haunting as we walked together through the thick morning fog. The man’s confession came from

You do not have to be a person of faith to recognize that addressing the climate crisis requires more than technological and policy solutions—although those

I’ve essentially quit Twitter/X, and my life is better for it. I joined the platform in 2008 as a young journalist hoping to gather sources,

I spent the morning at Dachau Concentration Camp memorial site, just outside Munich. I wandered the grounds and exhibitions: the roll call area, barracks, infirmary,

School has been starting for K-12 students round here this week, and even though my university’s classes begin after Labor Day, there’s already been the

“They look like Dr. Seuss flowers!” So declared my 10-year-old upon seeing the rows and rows of dahlias at the Meijer Gardens Dahlia Show in

We were enemies, we just didn’t know it yet. Sitting across the small table for two was my friend Andrei. Both of us had been

In the last two weeks, I’ve managed to see two new musicals that each offer their own critique of the American dream — Gatsby: An

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

Sabbath is not simply the pause that refreshes. It is the pause that transforms.Walter Brueggemann Keep The Sabbath, Or God Will Keep It For You

All I could say to myself was, “Why would people want to prevent others from making promises to God and others?” In 2020, a “certificate

For someone who’s always loved school, attended school for what feels like forever, parents children who are in school, is married to a middle school

We recently stumbled into an unknown and unexpected place. . . the world of dog shows. After the death of our much-loved large breed dog, we

I’ve seen this before, deer flies bold enough and brazen. You hear them, pounding themselves on the windshield and against the door and laying siege

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve always been more of a dog person. And as a lifelong single woman, my preferred terms have become “fun aunt”

Apparently I don’t really know what the word “wooly” means. Dictionaries tell me it means vague and confused.  I’ve always liked the word wooly. I

I had walked past it numerous times and never paid it much attention. But this time I stopped because something peculiar had caught my eye.

I met him while sipping on a nice coffee and croissant. Not only was he a fellow pilgrim, but he was also an American. While

Every once in a while it is necessary for me to get outside the Reformed bubble. Not to wander in some hedonistic romp on the

Margaret[1] and I had a proper visit last week – not a quick hello, but a nice long sit-down. Margaret, a resident in the long-term

The Office of Confessional Compliance Christian Reformed Church in North America Dear Brothers in Christ, We humbly acknowledge that it is the kindness, tolerance, and patience

One of our flood pictures features a little section of our backyard garden where a whole mess of detritus floated around until some stiff current

I caught up to her somewhere in the middle of Spain. I don’t remember her name, nor could I have ever pronounced it correctly if

Did you feel it last Sunday? Did you feel the world shift? President Biden withdrew from the campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as

Many advocates of climate justice, Christian and otherwise, have looked to the Middle Ages to figure out what went wrong and how to set things

To: Calvin University Board of Trustees, President Greg Elzinga, Provost Noah TolyCalvin UniversityGrand Rapids, Michigan From: Timothy R. Van Deelen, Ph.D. Dear trustees and leaders

Perhaps what makes the “always” so poignant is that our eventual understanding that always isn’t always.

As the morning mist began to clear I could see him walking in the distance. No matter how early I began my pilgrimage there always

A few years ago, when pain felt like it was destroying me from the inside out, undoing my very being—physical, mental, and spiritual—I started to

Now has the summer of our discontent passed all endurance. Rising Strongman Bone-Spur escapes by the narrowest margin the violence that karma had in store

What is it about J.D. Vance that gets under my skin? I know it’s got nothing to do with his selection this week as the

I am not very handy. I try to fix things around the house, but I have just enough knowledge to be dangerous. Often, when I

There is something that happens when I step outside, with no purse or bag. I almost feel naked, like my fevered August teacher dreams where

My wife Jodi has a picture of the two of us dancing at a wedding as the screensaver on her phone. She loves that picture.

A friend recommended to me the 2023 Oscar-winning release American Fiction, so I watched it this week (streaming on Prime video). The premise: Thelonious Ellison,

We live in an 1920s brick home within an upper middle class neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our house offers a lot of character and

The board of Elders at my brother’s church (which is not in the Reformed tradition) had a woman come to their meeting to profess her

High up a winding alpine road, at almost the very top of a narrow canyon, stood the 1920s log cabin my parents purchased in the

I remember when it was considered a good idea for churches to look and feel like shopping malls, a place where 1990s people felt comfortable

It’s now been almost two weeks since the first presidential debate. Words like “disaster,” “debacle,” and “embarrassment” have been used to describe it. Neither candidate

For the past month I’ve had the opportunity to chat — or is it snap? — with my daughter Jenna as she journeys along the

If you have ever spent time interacting with Indians, you are likely familiar with the Indian head bobble. Also referred to as the Indian head

I love the serenity prayer. Throughout my years of preaching, I’ve used it in all sorts of ways: to inspire surrender (God, grant me the

After 279 days and 2,895 miles aboard our 27-foot boat on the Great American Loop, my wife, Jill and I returned to our normal routine

“I don’t want to see anyone leave, but as Abraham was asked to offer up Isaac in obedience to faith, I see this as an

Way back in the day when the original Reformed Journal was still in print via Eerdmans Publishing Company in the 1980s, I had the thrill

There was no announcement or notification. Just some big machinery that dug up a large section of concrete in the middle of our street, a

The famous “sheep and goats” passage in Matthew 25 is a powerful message from Jesus as he nears his death. As Jesus tells it, those

Two ethereal beings make their way slowly along a lonely beach on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. One is carrying a stick over their

The Christian Reformed Church Synod voted last week to expel more than two dozen LGBTQ-affirming churches and depose all LGBTQ-affirming ministers, elders, and deacons across

In an early scene of the film American Fiction, Monk (Jeffrey Wright) is noticeably upset. He moves a stack of his books—he’s a Black scholar

I’ve heard from a few readers about my extended absence from RJ. Not to worry (though I doubt this is a huge concern for many!)–I’ve