The Pastoral Grind

"99 bottles of wine on the wall..." by Let Ideas Complete To serve alcohol or not to serve alcohol, that is the question...  Sunday morning's sermon at the church I attend and intern with focused on John 2:1-11 where Jesus turns water to wine at the wedding in Cana.  Having recently graduated college and currently planning a wedding, it's not hard to imagine where my mind went.   Do I have a wet or dry reception?  If we choose to go wet, how much and what types of alcoholic beverages should there be?   The pastor interrupted my thought by highlighting how wedding festivals in Jesus' time typically lasted days and sometimes a full week.  There my mind went again, That's a lot of alcohol and Jesus added to it !  Some of my friends' voices chime in, Case closed!  Buy the kegs, Dan! Some of you can probably relate to the internal battle I'm having (before even thinking about cost or insurance for serving alcohol), but let me be clear that's not w

"Why'd I even get up?" .... If you're at all like me, you've said those words on a Sunday morning after a church service which you didn't particularly get much out of.  Maybe it came at the tail end of week(end) where you felt you really needed a strong message or a deep call to confession; but alas it never came (or if it did, the pastor is to blame for having made you doze off during it).  Call it "Confessions of a Young Pastor", but that's how I feel too sometimes.  I know I'm supposed to stand behind my fellow preachers who get behind the pulpit, I know that it's at a busy and tough job, I know the discouragement and adversity one can face, I know that people say the same thing about me sometimes, but I have to wonder on occasion, "Really Pastor (insert name here) ?  That's all you got?" When it comes to preaching or presenting the gospel, Ecclesiastes has some advice for pastors.  "Words from a wise man's mou

Challenge Accepted ... In the class that prompted this blog, we had the opportunity this past week to draw a topic from the "Box of Doom" (insert evil laughter).  Containing suggestions from our classmates and professor, we were challenged to write from a different platform than our usual.  I reached into the box and pulled out a note instructing me to take an obscure quote from my favorite movie and include it in a post.  "Too easy, maybe even typical," I thought. When everyone had chosen, a few remained and I offered to trade.  Seemed harmless enough until I read what my hand had pulled out: Submit a seminary paper or part of a paper as poetry or in poetic prose .   Those who know me know I like rap and spoken word, which I consider to be forms of poetry, but traditional poetry with rhymes, form based on syllable number, and flowery language is not my style.   Why'd I choose today to be cocky and untouchable? That brings us to today, when I looked through so

Note: While the intent of this blog is mainly to focus on how Sunday worship and preaching informs the week, I may occasionally take the liberty of focusing on worship practice and how the week meets Sunday. In this second post of this unofficial series on Sunday worship practice, I want to direct our attention to what it means to be a confessional church and some of the things that I'm wrestling with because of that.  As I mentioned last week, I have grown up in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), a denomination which officially affirms and utilizes three ecumenical creeds and three Reformed confessions .  We recognize that these six confessions do not have the same inspiration or authority as Scripture, but we affirm that they fully agree with the Word of the Lord.  The new Covenant for Officebearers (a document signed by all ministers, elders, and deacons who hold office in the CRC), which was passed by Synod (our governing body) this summer, goes on to say, These conf

Just another Sunday service?...Having grown up in the Christian Reformed Church , I've been around structured liturgy and Sunday bulletins all of my life.  Call to worship, song, God's greeting, song, confession, assurance of pardon, congregational prayer, offering, scripture reading, sermon, prayer, song, benediction, doxology,....oh, and don't forget pre- and postludes.  There's an order and routine to what we do, usually only changing for the occasional baptism, profession of faith, or celebration of the Lord's Supper.  Some outside of this tradition (and maybe a few in) view this ritual as boring.  It might appear to others that there is a set outline in which a pastor or worship leader plug different songs, scriptures, and themes into each week.  Carrying this thought out, people might say it's simple, a task that anyone could do.  I would contend these assumptions are not how it actually is, and I want to offer a reflection that defends the traditional

Keep it interesting... That was the command given by the jail sergeant to Opie as he handed him a pipe to defend himself on last week's episode of Sons of Anarchy.  While a pipe may seem pretty useful, one's chances of survival are pretty slim when up against 4 gang members in a small room.  Moments later, viewers watched Opie's character meet his end by that very pipe. Sons of Anarchy is now in its fifth season, and I've been a faithful follower for every one of those.  I won't condone it's low morals or promote it's viewership, but the high intensity and grittiness of each episode has me hooked.  As the third episode of this season ended, I found myself wondering  why am I and why are we as humans, particularly Christians, so desensitized to death and violence?   I laid in bed that night and I wondered, Did that just happen?  Am I okay with that happening?  Why do I set aside time and energy to watch this?  As the minutes passed by and I couldn't