Blog: December 2016

Merry Christmas, my dear Goshen church family!  This morning it is my delight to take you on a brief tour of some of the great music inspired by the Advent of Christ.  Pause and ponder: “Angels from the Realms of Glory”:  Ye, who sang creation’s story, - Now proclaim Messiah’s birth. Think of the waiting, the longing, by heaven’s angels who were there eons before creation and have watched God’s unfolding plans pan out all through the ages.  Think how they applaud the Sovereign Hand in the outworking of his design. “O Come, All Ye ...

Andrew & Rachel Wilson’s new book, The Life We Never Expected, offers “hopeful reflections on the challenges of parenting children with special needs” (from Crossway, 2016).  Andrew is a pastor in London. “This is a book about surviving, and thriving, spiritually when some­thing goes horribly wrong.  In our case, that ‘something’ was discov­ering that both of our children had regressive autism” (p. 13).  They’ve written the book for “anyone who is suffering at the moment and wants to know how to lament, worship, pray, wait, and hope” (1 ...

Dr. Helen Roseveare passed away this week at the age of 91.  Are you familiar with her?  In case you aren’t, here’s a bit of Helen’s story: As a pre-med student at Cambridge University in 1945, this bright young English woman responded to a friend’s invitation to visit the Cambridge Intercollegiate Christian Union, and the Lord met her in a powerful way during a student retreat.  The Gospel gripped her heart, and she developed an increasing eagerness to serve Christ in missions.  Helen stated, “I’ll go anywhere God wants me to, whatever the ...

’Tis the season … to be jolly?  Depends on whom you ask.  Christmas time is enjoyed and used and exploited and twisted and embraced by all kinds of people for all kinds of purposes.  It makes some folks jolly, others jaded, yet others hopeful in the deepest way. Retailers relish the days from Black Friday to Christmas Eve for their profit potential (of course, those in retail may also cringe at the long hours and added pressure of the season).  In this e-commerce age, I imagine the folks at Amazon and UPS are drooling with jolliness! I ...