Pastor Matthew shared the following remarks with the New Hope Church community during the time of lament in the worship gathering on Sunday, May 31, 2020, less than a week after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis. These past several days I’ve been in Tennessee because, as many of you know by now, my mom died suddenly. Just a few […]
The great Apostle Peter once wrote, “Therefore, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19). Clearly Peter understood two very important things: when we do the will of God suffering may come (contrary to the whole health and wealth narrative), and God is faithful in the midst […]
For a couple of days I have watched, admittedly from the comfortable confines of my home, the unfolding drama in Mexico because of the earthquake, and the unfolding events in Puerto Rico because of Hurricane Maria. Of course, both of these horrid disasters come on the heels of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey; and all of these events are just […]
Today in the Twin Cities a jury determined that Officer Jeronimo Yanez was not culpable in the death of Philando Castile when the officer shot him in the summer of 2016 during a traffic stop. For most of my African-American friends this is a verdict that is consistent with their expectations. It is no surprise. Their grief and pain is […]
To be a prodigal means that one is recklessly spending, not counting the cost, being wasteful, perhaps with another’s possessions or with trust capital or with his own life. All of us know a prodigal. Maybe the one you know is your daughter. Maybe it’s your daddy. Perhaps it’s the nephew you watched grow up, or the wife you thought […]
Life is hard.
People are complex.
Relationships are tricky.
Bring grace into the hard, complex, and tricky world.
We keep Sabbath not because it makes us more productive at work. We keep it to resist the idol of productivity.
We are more than what we produce.
Men fall in private long before they fall in public.
— J. C. Ryle
