The Pastoral Grind

The First Thanksgiving 1621  By Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (Originally written for The Baldwin Bulletin: Pastor's Column November 29, 2019) I'm not quite sure where this year has gone. For hunters, deer season is here. I'm personally waiting for the ice to be thick enough to do some fishing. Christmas decorations have started to go up around the area. Perhaps some of you have been mapping out the best Black Friday shopping sales. It doesn't feel like my daughter (a preschooler) and my wife (a teacher) started school all that long ago, but now I hear them talking about the Pilgrims and Native Americans. Their classes have each had projects (similar to what I remember doing growing up) that help remember and display certain parts of life around the "First Thanksgiving." Much has been written in recent years about difficulties, conflicts, and tragedies that came with the colonists’ entry into what we now call the United States of America. Through the sp

Photo by  chuttersnap  on  Unsplash I love music. I don’t play any instruments. In junior high, I played the trombone in my school’s band, but as soon as I got to high school I was done with it. A couple years later, I tried learning the acoustic guitar but that didn’t last long. My excuse for quitting is that I couldn’t figure out how to get my fingers set exactly right, but I really just wasn’t willing to commit to learning and practicing. I also don’t sing very well. I was in choir during high school because I had to be. I was one of those voices that tried my best to just blend into the group. I wasn’t singing solos or lead parts at a concert or in front of church. I love music, though. I enjoy songs from a variety of genres. Sometimes it’s the lyrics that grab my attention, sometimes it’s the tune—occasionally it’s both. I can listen to anything from classical music to jazz to Garth Brooks to Van Halen to rap to dubstep to slow choral hymns to praise team anthems.

(Originally written for The Baldwin Bulletin: Pastor's Column September 27, 2019) I just returned from a trip to Disney World with part of my wife’s family. We spent a week in hot and humid Florida enjoying one another’s company and four of the parks. There were long days of walking, meeting characters, riding the rides, and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells. Though I don’t need to go back any time soon, I can genuinely say I had a good time. My experience of Disney World captured something from several conversations I’ve had recently: distractions. We live in a time and society full of distractions, full of things vying for our attention, devotion, money, and worship.   If something new or different is going to take those, then something else in our lives must give them up or lose them.    The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins “What is the chief end of man?” What that question is asking is what do you exist for? Why are you here? The answer is “Man’s ch

Photo by  Julie Laiymani  on  Unsplash 18 years ago, I was 12 years old, a 6 th grader, and I was on my way to school when I first heard the news on the radio of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. All I knew about the WTC was that there was a skyscraper in New York City. I could guess from the name that financial work happened there, but that was about it. I didn’t even know there were multiple towers at that point in the day. I remember thinking it was sad, and how strange it would be to see an airplane strike a building in a city! But I, like many students who didn’t live near the crash sites or see the first images broadcast on TV, went on with my day, not thinking too much about this crash. (It’s a good reminder how most kids that age didn’t have phones, especially phones with any access to the internet, and social media wasn’t a thing yet in 2001.) Eventually—I don’t remember if it was later in the morning or early afternoon—our teachers shared with us what

(Photo cred: Pixabay via PEXELS.com) Most nights my kids’ bedtime is a bit of a battle. The biggest and most consistent issue is mom must be the one to tuck them in. I can volunteer, but, “No! Mommy!” is the usual shouted response. So, I tend to accept that Christie will take care of them. More and more, she’s been able to convince them to at least let me read a bedtime story to them. The other major part of the battle, which I’m guessing most parents can remember or identify with their own kids, is the fit that comes with not wanting to go to bed. Our 4-year old daughter sometimes throws a fit if she’s overtired, though that’s happening less and less. Our 2-year old son is another story. Even if mom’s tucked him in and spent time in his room, he tosses and turns or just won’t fall asleep. When Christie tries to leave after 10-20 minutes, he usually turns his light on and either peeks out the door, runs to the living room, or runs to our bedroom. One of us, sometimes he wil

(Photo cred: Pixabay via PEXELS.com) (Originally written for The Baldwin Bulletin: Pastor's Column August 2, 2019) “I didn’t know where you were going at first…” remarked one of my congregants after a recent sermon. Most people who listen to sermons have probably thought that before…and so have the pastors preaching them. I’m a “manuscript preacher,” meaning I write out my sermons every week. There are definitely times in my preparation when I have to stop and ask myself how I got to a certain thought or idea. Sometimes I trust the Holy Spirit has brought me in a direction I didn’t plan or expect to go, but other times sentences and paragraphs meet my computer’s delete button. The Bible and God’s plan can be like that at times, too. In Genesis 37, we meet a man named Joseph, the son of Jacob (a.k.a. Israel—yes, that’s where the name of the country originates, see Genesis 32).  Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons…When his brothers saw that their f

Photo by  kat wilcox  from  Pexels I’m currently preaching through the book of Acts, and my messages have largely been drawing our attention to some of the core practices of the early church. When we look back in history and wonder how the first Christians following Jesus’ time on earth did things, what can we learn from them? One of the pieces is their generosity towards one another (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35). Being generous isn’t something they just decided to do on their own, though. It’s actually rooted in what God had instructed the Israelites about as they made their way to the Promised Land. He taught them how he had created all things and was giving them an opportunity to live and work and harvest on his land. He was the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Lest they fell into thinking they earned and ought to receive credit for making themselves into the people they were and possessions they had, God reminded them that they wouldn

(Photo Cred: Luis Quintero via PEXELS.com) I wrestle with this song I’ve heard sung in Sunday Schools and taught to children.   On one hand, equating our actions with spiritual growth worries me.   Someone could go through the actions of reading the Bible every single day (reading it like a novel, textbook, or collection of poems) and also assume they’re praying (by thinking good thoughts and telling whatever gods exist what they’d like to see happen), and think that’s all that’s necessary to “grow, grow, grow.”   In reality, faith must be present.   Reading and listening to the Bible is a discipline, as is prayer to the one true God.   These are exercises we do in trust, dependence, and thankfulness to the God who has spoken his will and redeemed his people.   If a person truly believes and is saved, and does these things, they are to their benefit, their growth!   Without faith, they might make a person feel good and have others who see them think a certain way about th

(Photo cred: Felix Mittermeier via PEXELS.com) (Originally written for The Baldwin Bulletin: Pastor's Column June 18, 2019) Hello! I’m Pastor Dan De Graff, the new pastor at Baldwin Christian Reformed Church. My wife, Christie, and I just moved to Baldwin from Corsica, SD, with our daughter, Addison, and son, Brooks. I grew up in South Holland, IL and the DeMotte, IN area. I did my undergraduate studies at Dordt University in Sioux Center, IA, and completed my MDiv. studies at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI. I’ve also spent short lengths of time along the I-75 corridor in KY and TN, in southern Ontario, and Pella, IA. I enjoy fishing—open water and ice, spending time outdoors with my family, and watching sports (especially the Chicago Blackhawks and White Sox—I can hear your boos already Wild and Twins’ fans.) I consider myself a Packers’ fan! I’ve moved around a lot and haven’t settled into any single place for a long time. I have family members and friends