Come, Lord Jesus!
Dan Schrock
Six years ago Tyndale House, an evangelical Christian publisher, released a book called The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven: A Remarkable Account of Miracles, Angels, and Life Beyond this World. This book begins with the story of how six-year-old Alex Malarkey, and his father, Kevin Malarkey, were involved in a traffic accident. The accident […]
A Table Full of Love
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
There is a lot of mystery that surrounds the resurrection. No one knows how it happened—there were no witnesses to the actual resurrection. It took place in the dark of a tomb. And in this last chapter of John, the mystery of resurrection, love and forgiveness continues. There is mystery too, that surrounds this last […]
Desire and Resistance
Dan Schrock
A regrettable part of Christianity is the deplorable way we Christians have sometimes treated Jews. Even we in the Anabaptist tradition have been guilty of a certain amount of anti-Semitism. For instance, a few years before he turned Anabaptist, Balthasar Hubmaier preached vigorously against Jews in the city of Regensburg where he was then living. […]
The Smell of Love
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
She couldn’t get the smell of death out of her nostrils. It seemed to cling to her—her clothes, her hair, her skin. It didn’t matter where she went, or how many times she had bathed, the smell went with her. It didn’t matter that Lazarus was now alive and eating with their friends; he had […]
Two Lost Sons
Dan Schrock
Most of my life I’ve assumed that this parable is about repentance and forgiveness. People get to the theme of repentance and forgiveness partly by focusing on the younger son, often called the prodigal son. People also get to this interpretation from verses 18 and 19. In those verses the starving younger son decides to […]
Clinging to God in the Wilderness
Ben Woodward Breckbill
The sun beats down. The fatigue sets in. The food stores are depleted, and there hasn’t been fresh water for days. The wind howls, as do the jackals that have been trailing at a distance – better them than the king’s army looking for your blood. And the doubt sets in: you know that everything […]
Do Not Fear
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
When the promise is first given, it comes with a call for Abram to step out in faith, to follow God’s call to an unknown land and an unknown future: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a […]
When Your Mission Is Rejected
Dan Schrock
In the late 1870s, a young man named Vincent van Gogh decided to become a minister in the Dutch Reformed church. At first glance his decision to become a minister made a lot of sense, because his father and several uncles were ministers, which more or less made ministry the family business. Moreover Vincent was […]
Do not Fear; only Believe
Marilyn Rudy-Froese
In what feels like another lifetime, I preached on the story of the hemorrhaging woman. Looking back on what I recall of what I said, I’ve done my share of cringing. I was a summer student pastor, having finished one year of seminary. In a moment of compassionate insight this week for my younger self, […]
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