Letter from the Pastor

       The newspapers a few years ago carried a tragic story of a young high school student in Texas who decided to play a game of Russian Roulette.  He took a 38 caliber revolver out of the glove compartment of a friend’s car, emptied all of the bullets out of the chamber, put only one back in, and gave it a spin.  Then he put the gun up to his temple, pulled the trigger, and it fired.  He died in a hospital about two hours later.  And I am sure your reaction to that is  essentially the same […]

            It seems that one of the most difficult things for any of us to do is to hold ourselves accountable for our own attitudes and actions. That experience can be so painful that people will do almost anything to avoid it. The standard procedure is to make an excuse that will place the responsibility on someone or something outside of us. For example, a child coming home from school with a failing grade might explain his or her failure by saying; “The teacher doesn’t like me.” An athletic team, after losing an important game, […]

         Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, and we begin the season of Lent.  It is a time for all of us to stop and to reflect and remember   Do you remember those days when you dreamed beautiful dreams?  You were thinking about the wonderful life that was waiting for your over there in the future.  Dreaming is a vital part of living.  Think how impoverished our world would be without dreamers.  Every great human accomplishment is nothing more than a dream come true.  The electric light was once a dream in the mind of Thomas Edison.  The Fifth Symphony was once […]

           I am told that some young people shy away from the Church and following Jesus for fear that life will lose its luster.  I’m not sure where that notion comes from.  But I do know that it does not derive from the New Testament, at least not from a true understanding of the New Testament.  There is enough tragedy in its pages to make it the saddest book in all the world.  Yet instead, there is a prevailing mood of joy, confidence, and expectation.         Jesus was certainly no frowning savior.  His […]

         Several years ago, there was a story in the news about a family in a small town in Florida.  It consisted of a father, a mother, and two young sons.  They were normal family, except for one problem.  Both boys had AIDS.  Both boys contracted the virus through a blood transfusion.  Their presence in the public school was  bitterly resisted by other parents, whose children attended that same school.  One night, under suspicious circumstances, the family’s house burned to the ground.  Finally, they were forced to move to another town.  They had been rejected by their […]