Should I Forgive An Unrepentant Person?“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”Romans 12:17After my recent sermon on forgiveness, the question was posed to me, “Do we only forgive after someone has repented?” In fact, Jesus himself seems to say as much in Luke 17:43: “if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him”. So, what is our responsibility to fo...  Read More

Being Smart With Smart PhonesBack in the summer the elders graciously gave me the opportunity to be away for three consecutive weeks. Part of this time was vacation with my family, and part of it was personal retreat. In order to make the most of this time, I took what felt like a risk: I turned off my phone and left it at home. No calls, no texts, no dings, no swiping or tapping or buzzing. As a ...  Read More

What We Take For GrantedWhat is something you take for granted? Most likely it’s something you’ve become so used to that you don’t realize how much you appreciate it until it’s not there anymore. Like electricity. Or a car that cranks. Or the first cup of coffee in the morning. In his classic book on biblical community entitledLife Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer proposes that one thing many Christi...  Read More