Tuesday Notes

Church Family, When the New Year rolls around it can often feel like more of the same. In fact the New Year can mostly feel like cleaning up from the previous year. Get the Christmas Tree to the curb, get ready for tax season, get the kids back to school,...

Church Family, This past Sunday we began our Advent Sermon Series focused on the theme of worship that runs through the Christmas Story. Advent is a word that means “Arrival” and during this season we will be studying the arrival of Jesus into the world he created and renewing our...

Church Family, Centuries ago, churches and academic institutions began to appreciate the wisdom of giving professors and ministers time for personal and professional renewal. This wasn’t considered a vacation benefit for the Sabbath-taker, it was seen as an investment into the long-term health of the organization. In the modern context,...

Question for you: Are you trying to be a Christian today, or are you training to be a Jesus follower today? We’re in the midst of a sermon series entitled “The Practice” wherein we are looking at five different practices that enable us to live a Christ-centered, Spirit-filled life. Spiritual...

On Sunday morning in worship we continued in our current sermon series “Deep Living in a Shallow Culture” as we studied the way the Apostle Paul addresses the church in the city of Corinth on the topic of quarrels and divisions. Disagreements and potential divisions are an issue for any...

I’ve been thinking a lot this week of how often I have found myself in the Jonah story as we’ve worked our way through the book on Sunday mornings this spring. Runner from God at times? Check. Desperate prayer in desperate circumstances? Check. More concerned with my own comfort than...

In chapter four of the Old Testament book of Jonah, the prophet and God are having an argument. Maybe you have had an argument with God at some point in your faith journey; I know I have. If you missed the sermon on Sunday, you can listen to it here....

Jonah is one of the least read books in the Bible. (At least according to handy analysis of what people access electronically.) I was quite surprised to see this. Surprised because it is short and easy to read; surprised because it is an engaging story; surprised because there are an...

The Presbyterian Church has some funny terms. From time-to-time I am still learning new ones. When I came to First Pres Glen Ellyn 7 years ago, I learned what a “Sacristy” is – although I still think it would be easier to call it “that little closet where all the...

You likely are familiar with the mixer game where a famous person’s name is put on a tag on your back. You don’t know whose name it is, so you have to ask yes or no questions of others in the room, in order to figure it out. Let’s say...