Author: njumcadmin

James 3:1-12 Thirteen years ago my younger sister moved to England.  Her husband is British.  They met while he was working for a church over here.  However, after they married they went back across the Atlantic so he could attend seminary and they have been there ever since.  She has now spent over a decade … [Read more…]

Scripture:  James 2:1-10;14-17 In a fast paced and even faster changing world, some churches feel the need to make adjustments to better appeal to the modern culture.  When churches want to communicate they are fully modern or contemporary, one of the ways to do this is to replace the pews with padded chairs.   For many, … [Read more…]

I like to listen to podcasts when I am doing activities like driving.  Podcasts are a bit like talk radio programs, except they are downloaded and can be listened to on demand.  There are several different podcasts that I listen to regularly and one of those is called 99% Invisible.  This is a narrative based … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Galatians 5:16-25 It is probably fair to say that for most people February 18th, 2021 was just another day.  In our family and I am sure several others, it was a day we were counting down to.   It was on this day that NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover made planet fall.   The probe had launched … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Matthew 10:1, 7-8 Today his name is virtually unknown, but Lorenzo Dow was one of America’s most famous celebrities during his time.  For instance, his autobiography was the second best-selling book second only to the Bible.  His notoriety was so great that it became fashionable to name children after him, and U.S. census data … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Hebrews 13:1-3 The story goes that there once was a successful businessman.  He worked long hours but he was an expert at growing business operation to larger scales.  Finally, his family convinced him to actually take a vacation and they went to a small Brazilian village on the beach.   As the businessman sat on … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Ephesians 6:10-20 Several years ago when I lived in Indianapolis, I read an article in the Sunday paper lifestyle section of the newspaper that has stuck with me all of these years.   It was about Mr. Silent, Indianapolis’ very own real life superhero.    He was a guy who were a three piece suit, a … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Ephesians 4:1-16 I do not know about your household, but in ours we have a countdown going on right now.   We are just days away, five days in fact, until the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games.   My wife loves the Olympics.   It is pretty much a given, that from this Friday until the … [Read more…]

2021 State of the Church As I think about the state of the church, my thoughts turn to sports; specifically football.  In 2012 the San Francisco 49’ers were near the top of the NFL.  While they did not get the win, the team competed in the Super Bowl that year.  The year after that they … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Ephesians 2:1-10 I do not know if you remember it, but there was a news story from the end of 2019 that made the rounds through every major news outlet.   An Italian modern conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan duct taped a banana to a wall, called it “The Comedian” and insisted it was art.  The … [Read more…]